977<358   SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  OF 
THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  BISHOP  HILL 


COLONY 


LIBRARY  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


977.333 


I-CENTE1IAL  CELEBRATION  OF  THE 
SETTLEMENT  OF  BISHOP  JILL  COLONY 


HELD  AT  BISHOP  HILL,   ILLINOIS,  WEDNESDAY  AND 
THURSDAY,   SEPTEMBER    23  AND    24,    1896 


Pit!  HIC 

ILL. 


Semi-Centennial  Celebration 


OF  THE 


SETTLEMENT  OF 


BISHOP  HILL  COLONY 


HELD  AT  BISHOP  HILL  ILLINOIS 


WEDNESDAY  AND  THURSDAY 


SEPTEMBER  231AND  24 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMF-CENTENNIAL. 


PREFACE. 

TO   THE   READER: 

Believing  that  it  will  be  appreciated  by  posterity  if  a  record  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Semi-Centennial  celebration  of  the  settlement  of  Bishop 
Hill  Colony,  in  Henry  County,  Illinois,  which  was  held  at  Bir.bop  Hill  on 
September  23  and  24,  1896,  would  be  preserved  in  a  more  permanent  form, 
the  writer  has  undertaken  the  task  by  copying  said  proceedings  which 
were  published  at  the  time  by  E.  E.  Fitch  in  a  special  edition  of  "The 
Galva  Weekly  News,"  which  is  herewith  submitted  in  pamphlet  form,  with 
some  additions  in  the  line  of  views  of  buildings,  photographs  and  groups 
of  old  settlers  taken  in  the  park  at  the  Reunion,  with  the  expressed  wish 
that  on  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  event,  these  proceedings  be 
read  as  a  part  of  the  exercises  of  the  occasion.  The  children,  and  men,  and 
women,  who  are  coming  upon  the  scene  of  action  even  now,  cannot  be 
made  to  realize  the  conditions  existing  here  when  the  first  pioneers  blazed 
the  way  in  the  wilderness,  to  this  now  fertile  garden  spot  of  the  New 
World;  and  by  1946  thene  proceedings  will  perhaps  read  like  fairy  tales, 
rivaling  in  their  truth  the  most  fertile  imaginafion  of  a  Jules  Verne  and  a 
Hans  Christian  Anderson. 

JOHN   ROOT. 

GALVA,   ILLINOIS,   MAY  29,   1909. 


Winter  Scene  in   Bishop  Hill.     Looking  West  from  Post  Office. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


A  SOUVENIR  OF  THE  PROCEEDINGS 

of  the  Semicentennial  Celebration 
of  the   Settlement  of    Bishop    Hill 


HELD    AT    BISHOP    HILL,    HENRY    COUNTY, 
ILLINOIS,    SEPTEMBER    23-24,    1896. 


OFFICERS. 

JOHN  ROOT,  President.  P.  L.  JOHNSON,  Secretary. 

A.  C.  MYRTENGREN,  Treasurer. 


John  Root, 
A.  E.  Bergland, 
P.  L.  Johnson, 
J.  W.  Olson, 

Dr.  John  Headland, 
A.  C.  Myrtengren, 

P.  O.  Norling, 
John  Westberg, 
John  Soderqusit, 

Martin  Johnson, 
Eric  Headland, 

P.  L.  Johnson, 
Eric  Anderson, 
Nels  Runquist, 

Eric  Headland, 
A.  C.  Myrtengren, 

Peter  Johnson, 
John  Root, 


Committee  on  Arrangements. 
E.  L.  Swanson, 
Magnus  Johnson, 
P.  O.  Krans, 
Nels  Runquist. 

Committee  on   Finance. 

J.  P.  Chaiser, 
Jacob  Jacobson, 

Invitation  Committee. 

Nels  Runquist, 
Eric  Headland, 
O.  B.  Olson. 

Committee  on  Date. 

John  Helsen, 
J.  W.  Olson, 
Committee  on   Music. 

A.  E.  Bergland, 
Committee  on  Relics. 

Olof  Matthews, 
Historical  Committee. 

John  Helsen, 
Reception  Committee. 

J.  E.  Lindbeck, 
Jacob  Jacobson, 
Committee  to   Locate   Monument. 

A.   Barlow, 

Committee  on  Inscription. 
J.  W.  Olson, 


John  Soderquist. 


Peter  Johnson. 

Daniel  Lindbeck. 

J.  E.  Lindbeck. 

Martin  Johnson. 

J.  P.  Chaiser. 

J.  P.  Chaiser. 


Kric  Headland, 

Ole  Lock, 

Mrs.  P.  O.  Norling, 

O.  V),  Johnson, 

Mrs.  Martha  Johnson, 


Committee  on  Provisions. 

P.  J.  Wickblom, 
Mrs.  Helen  Lindwall, 
Eric  Troline, 
Mrs.  Mary  Olson, 
Mrs.  J.  M.  Kingdon. 


A.  E.  Bergland. 


The  Chorus:— Miss  Alice  Chaiser,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Swanson,  Mrs.  O.  B.  Ol- 
son, Soprano;  Misses  Florence  Lindbeck  and  Winnie  Chaiser  and  Mrs.  P. 
J.  Lindbeik,  Alto;  Rev.  Axel  Gabrielson,  P.  J.  Lindbeck  and  John  Soder- 
quist, Tenor;  P.  L.  Johnson,  O.  W.  Johnson,  P.  J.  Stoneberg,  Bass. 

Male  Quintet: — P.  J.  Lindbeck,  Rev.  Axel  Gabrielson,  1st  Tenor;  P.  L. 
Johnson,  2nd  Tenor;  O.  W.  Johnson,  1st  Bass;  P.  J.  Stoneberg,  2nd  Bass: 
Organist,  Miss  Esther  Peterson. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


MONUMENT    IN    PARK. 
Unveiled  by  Master  Earl  Root,  afternoon  of   Sept.  23,  1896. 

INSCRIPTION. 


1846. 
DEDICATED  TO  THE   MEMORY  OF 

The  Hardy  Pioneers 
Who,   in   Order   to   Secure 

RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY, 

Left  SWEDEN,  Their  Native  Land, 

With  .all  the  Endearments 

Of  Home  and  Kindred, 

And  Founded 

BISHOP    HILL   COLONY, 

On  the  Uninhabited  Prairies  of 

ILLINOIS. 

Erected  by  Surviving  Members 
And  Descendants  on  the 

50th  Anniversary, 

September  Twenty-Third, 

1896. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


REV.  AXEL  GABRIELSON. 


MASTER    EARL   ROOT. 


Address    of    Welcome — Rev. 


Axel     Gabrielson, 
Bishop   Hill. 


Resident    M.    E.     Minister, 


Mr.  President,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  friends,  one  and  all: 

As  the  mouth-piece  on  this  occasion  of  the  corporate  village  of  Bishop 
Hill  its  citizens,  and  those  adjacent  to  it,  who  have  had  a  part  in  arrang- 
ing this  celebration,  let  me  in  giving  the  address  of  welcome,  first  of  all, 
in  their  behalf,  express  satisfaction  at  the  sight  here,  greeting  our  vision, 
the  assemblage  of  this  vast  concourse  of  people,  from  distant  places  and 
near,  met  to  do  honor  to  the  day  we  celebrate. 

But  in  the  midst  of  the  pleasure  which  such  a  scene  affords,  a  feeling 
of  sadness  steals  over  us,  as  we  reflect,  that  not  many  of  the  original 
founders  of  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony  remain  today,  after  the  lapse  of  half  a 
century  of  time,  to  extend  a  greeting  to  you  through  a  delegated  medium  or 
personally.  Almost  all  of  them  sleep  now  in  yonder  peaceful  city  of  the 
dead,  or  lie  in  the  quiet  shade  of  the  distant  woods,  or  rest,  here  and  there 
one,  in  almost  isolated  graves. 

Yet  our  hearts  are  cheered  by  the  presence  still  of  a  few  among  us, 
and  in  the  name  of  these  remaining  aged  andT  honored  veterans,  I  want  to 
say  to  you,  their  descendants,  to  friends  of  long  standing,  and  to  those  of 
more  recent  acquisition  as  well,  gathered  from  near  and  far,  welcome,  yea, 
thrice  welcome  here  today. 

They  have  come,  'tis  true,  to  only  a  small  town,  but  now,  as  in  the  days 
of  Bethlehem,  the  least  of  Judean  cities,  size,  let  me  remind  you,  is  not 
the  only  measure  of  greatness. 

The  Palestine  city  was  not  great  because  of  its  territory,  or  many  in- 
habitants, but  because  it  gave  birth  to  One  in  whom  all  nations  are  blessed. 

Our  town,  though  small  too  in  circumference,  and  insignificant  as  to 
population,  and  laying  no  special  claim  to  distinction  on  the  ground  of 
having  produced  any  one  vying  in  greatness,  even  with  mortal  men,  may 
still  aspire  to  position  among  celebrated  places,  because,  possibly,  of  her 
age  in  a  comparatively  new  country,  and  certainly  because,  to  brave  men 
and  women  from  the  distant  North-land,  of  Scandinavia,  Helsingland  Swe- 
den, belongs  the  credit  of  the  founding  of  this  exceptionally  quaint  and 
unique  town,  on  the  wilds  of  an  Illinois  prairie,  a  half  hundred  years  ago, 
and  in  its  name  Bishop  Hill,  the  creation  of~This  noble  land  of  patriots, 
professed  and  sincere  followers  of  the  incomparable  Bethlehemite,  we  greet 
you  one  and  all,  and  bid  you,  welcome,  among  us  today. 


8 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


In  behalf  also  of  the  young  manhood  and  womanhood  of  Bishop  Hill, 
who  have  shared  none  of  the  hardships  of  the  pioneers  of  forty-six,  forty- 
eight  and  fifty,  but  who  today,  consciously  enjoy,  in  the  heritage  they  pos- 
sess, the  fruit  of  the  privations  and  labor  of  those  heroes,  living  and  dead, 
I  bid  all  present  here,  .welcome  to  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  founding 
of  Bishop  Hill. 

Yes,  welcome  to  our  home  during  your  stay,  and  welcome  to  enjoy 
•without  limit,  whatsoever  of  good  with  which  a  beneficent  Providence  has 
seen  fit  to  bless  us. 

Again,  in  the  name  of  all  those  |whom  I  today  represent;  the  movers  in 
and  promoters  of  the  celebration  enterprise,  their  committees,  who  have  so 
faithfully  and  well  performed  every  detail  entrusted  to  them,  the  active  en- 
ergetic citizen,  the  retired  aged,  honored  and  loved  among  us,  and  the  cor- 
poration itself,  in  the  name  of  all  these  I  extend  to  you  all,  from  the  least 
to  the  greatest  inclusive,  an  earnest,  sincere  and  warm  welcome! 


JOHN    ROOT,   OF   GALVA,    ILL. 
Born  at  Bishop  Hill,  October  25,  1849. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


Response — John   Root. 

Mr.  Mayor  and  Fellow  Citizens  of  Bishop  Hill: — On  behalf  of  the  old 
settlers  here  assembled,  and  especially  on  behalf  of  those  from  abroad  I 
desire  to  return  to  you  my  most  sincere  thanks  for  the  cordial  welcome  you 
have  extended  us.  We  come  here  today  from  Puget  Sound  and  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  from  Chesapeake  Bay  and  from  The  Golden  Gide,  from  the 
East  and  from  the  far  West,  beyond  the  Mississippi  and  tho  Missouri  riv- 
ers. We  come  not  as  strangers,  but  as  members  of  one  large  family  holding 
a  reunion  at  the  old  homestead.  While  many  of  us  have  been  separated  from 
the  old  home  tor  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  the  scents  and  sur- 
roundings which  greet  us  upon  our  return  are  familiar,  and  but  few  changes 
have  taken  pla,ce.  The  same  broad  streets  lined  with  their  beautiful  ma- 
ples, magnificent  elms  and  drooping  lindens — the  same  grand  park,  the 
same  old  church,  the  same  old  school-house,  the  same  postoffice  as  of  old, 
the  same  dwelling  houses,  and  the  same  old  bell  with  its  familiar  sound, 
that  had  its  multiplicity  of  duties  to  perform;  to  call  us  to  attend  divine 
worship,  to  school,  to  dinner,  and  to  sound  the  alarm  in  case  of  fire  or 
other  danger,  and  I  am  not  certain  but  what  ft  also  did  curfew  duty. 

As  is  well  known  the  causes  which  led  these  pioneers,  the  founders  of 
your  town — these  quiet  law-abiding  people — to  forsake  their  uatiA  e  shores 
of  the  Scandinavian  peninsula,  with  all  the  ties  and  traditions  to  which 
they  were  bound,  and  to  seek  for  themselves  and  posterity  a  home  in  the 
land  of  A,he  free,  though  in  the  unknown  and  uninhabited  West,  in  this 
beautiful  Mississippi  Valley,  was  the  religious  persecution  to  which  they 
were  subjected.  In  all  monarchies  where  Church  and  State  are  united,  re- 
ligious oppression,  though  varied  in  severity,  is  generally  the  rule,  and 
with  the  exception  of  the  instruments  of  torture,  it  is  doubtful  if  these 
people  were  any  the  less  oppressed  than  were  the  victims  of  the  Spanish 
Inquisition.  Where  their  mode  of  worship  differed  from  the  forms  prescrib- 
ed by  the  established  church,  or  where  religious  services  were  held  at  dif- 
ferent times  or  places,  and  by  other  persons  than  those  prescribed  by  royal 
authority,  they  were  harrassed  by  the  minions  of  the  law,  arrested,  fined 
and  imprisoned,  until  life  became  to  them  a  burden,  and  so  like  the  Puri- 
tans of  old,  they  set  sail  for  a  more  genial  clime.  Think  of  the  sacrifices 
they  made  for  their  religious  convictions;  home  and  fatherland,  the  land  of 
song  and  story;  the  land  of  the  midnight  sun;  the  land  of  Gustavus.Vasa 
and  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  hero  of  Protestantism.  All  these  associations 
and  many  more  were  held  for  naugltt,  and  they  left  all  and  embarked 
upon  the  high  seas.  Some  of  them  in  schooners  and  fishing  smacks  which 
would  today  be  condemned  as  unseaworthy  to  sail  on  a  pleasure  lagoon 
within  sight  of  a  life-saving  station.  Tossed  on  the  waves  of  the  sf.ormy 
Atlantic  for  three  and  four  months,  they  finally  landed  in  New  York  City, 
and  by  slow  degrees,  by  stage  route,  canals  and  the  great  lakes,  arrived 
at  Chicago,  then  a  village  just  entering  her  'teens,  and  containing  but  a 
few  thousand  inhabitants.  From  there  they  continued  their  journey  on 
foot  across  the  country  till  they  settled  down  on  this  beautiful  spot. 

It  is  conceded  by  all  that  this  settlement  at  the  time  it  was  made  was 
the  advance  guard,  the  entering  wedge,  to  Scandinavian  emigration  to  this 
great  Northwest.  They  were  to  Scandinavia  what  the  Independents  and 
Puritans  were  to  England  and  Holland,  and  this  stopping  place  may  justly 
be  called  their  "Plymouth  Rock." 

There  had  been  earlier  Scandinavian  settlements  on  the  ea stern  shores 
of  this  continent  in  New  Jersey,  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania,  but  the  spirit 
of  adventure  had  not  taken  very  strong  possession  of  those  settlers,  and 
their  descendants  are  still  occupying  portions  of  these  States.  A  Scandina- 
vian settlement  is  also  claimed  to  have  been  made  as  early  as  the  tenth 
century  on  the  coast  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  but  tho  ex- 
act location  has  been  somewhat  shrouded  in  mystery  and  founded  on  tra- 
dition. • 

But  Prof.  Horsford,  of  Rhode  Island,  has  discovered  what  he  considers 
conclusive  evidences  of  the  site  of  their  city,  by  the  unearthing  of  its  foun- 
dations, and  has  caused  to  be  erected  there  a  monument  to  commemorate 
the  settlement.  The  city  was  called  Norembega  (presumably  on  account 
of  the  northern  origin  of  its  founders,  and  being  probably  in  the  same 
land  discovered  by  Lief  Ericson  and  called  Vinland — the  land  of  wine — on 
account  of  the  profusion  of  wild  grapes  found  growing  there).  We  intend 
that  posterity  shall  not  be  left  in  doubt  as  to  fhe  settlement  of  this  place, 


10  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

and  have  met  today  to  dedicate  a  memorial  tablet,  to  remain  for  ages  as 
a  reminder  of  the  event. 

Imagine,  if  you  can,  the  condition  of  these  people  at  the  time  of  their 
settlement  here;  the  trials  they  endured,  the  hardships  they  suffered — 
starvation  and  pestilence  on  every  hand;  settling  down  in  the  wilderness 
and  marshes,  full  of  malaria  and  miasma,  in  the  bleak  September  days, 
when  the  sun  was  daily  wending  its  way  to  the  Southward,  and  gloomy 
winter  coming  on;  with  no  means  of  subsistence  except  principally  wild 
game,  with  which  the  country  at  that,  time  abounded;  with  the  nearest, 
towns  fifty  to  seventy-five  miles  distant,  and  to  which  periodical  journeys 
had  to  be  made  for  supplies,  with  horses  and  oxen  as  the  motive  powor; 
with  no  habitation  except  tents  and  sod  houses  in  which  to  pass  the  win- 
ter— surely  the  greatest  wonder  is  that  any  one  remains  to  tell  the  tale. 

Then,  as  now,  money  was  necessary  for  fhe  carrying  on  of  any  enter- 
prise, and  among  these  pecple  were  found  a  few  men  of  means,  who  con- 
verted their  all  into  gold  and  expended  the  same  freely  for  the  benefit  of" 
the  masses,  even  to  the  extent  of  paying  the  debts  and  passage  for  such 
as  were  unable  to  do  so  themselves,  so  that  they  could  leave  their  country 
like  honorable  men. 

Beginning  with  hoe  and  mattcck  to  clear  fhe  forest  and  turn  the  hod 
for  the  next  season's  planting,  the  work  was  indeed  laborious  and  would. 
seem  almost  insurmountable.  Yet,  little  by  litfle,  they  acquired  their  land, 
from  the  Government,  and  in  less  than  15  years,  this  village  practically  as 
it  appears  today,  was  tuilt;  for  these  people  were  imbued  with  the  thrifty 
and  industrious  habits  of  their  northern  home,  and  among  them  were 
found  architects  and  mechanics  of  every  class  and  calling,  necessary  for 
the  successful  building  up  of  a  frontier  settlement;  and  we  have  evidences 
before  us  on  every  hand  of  their  industry  and  architecture.  Every  brick  in 
these  buildings  was  molded  by  hand,  and  every  beam,  joist,  scantling  und 
rafter  built  into  them  was  hewed  and  sawed  b'y  these  brawny  men  in  these 
forests.  Besides  these  structures  that  we  see  here,  there  were  many  more 
that  are  now  obliterated,  especially  all  the  mills  and  dams  on  the  banks  of 
the  Edwards.  Flouring  mills,  both  steam  and  water  power,  rlax  mills  and 
saw  mills,  and  included  in  the  destruction  was  that  grand  obelisk,  the 
chimney  on  the  steam  flouring  mill,  towering  over  100  feet  heavenward,  and 
which  would  in  all  probability  have  stood  for  500  years,  and  would  have 
teen  a  fttine:  monument  for  the  admiration  of  coming  generations,  and  of 
more  memorial  value  to  us  than  any  block  of  granite  we  can  erect  today. 
But  such  are  the  mutations  of  time,  and  nerhaps  in  another  century  some,, 
or  all  of  these  remaining  buildings  will  have  shared  the  same  fate.  But 
yonder  stands  a  faithful  watchman  and  time  keeper,  remaining,  which 
throueh  summer's  sun  and  winter's  storm,  by  night  as  well  as  by  day, 
faithfully  proclaims  another  hour  gore,  never  to  return.  Though  not  as 
elaborate  in  architectural  teauty  and  mechanism  as  the  clock  in  Strasburg 
Cathedral,  yet  at  the  time  of  its  erection  it  was  quite  a  curiosity  and  at- 
tracted strane-ers  from  all  around,  and  rn  favorable  occasions  its  clear 
tones  can  still  be  heard  for  mile?,  and  it  is  net  improbable  that  u  will  be- 
on  duty  when  the  most  of  us  shall  have  passed  away. 

In  its  most  prosperous  days  this  town,  bad  it  been  enclosed  by  the  • 
Chinese  wall,  the  inhabitants  would  almost  have  had  within  the  confines 
of  their  own  possessions,  abundant  resources  to  supply  their  every  want 
without  being  dependent  upon  the  outside  world.  They  raisod  and  manu- 
factured into  cloth  their  own  wool  and  flax;  made  their  own  implements  of 
every  description:  raised  wheat  and  rye  and  ground  the  same  into  flour; 
manufactured  leather  ard  converted  it  into  boots,  shoes,  and  harnesses; 
burnt  their  own  lime;  raised  horses,  cattle,  hogs  and  poultry,  and  their 
ten  horse  power  sorghum  mill  was  the  larpe=t  in  the  northern  part  of  the  • 
State,  and  verv  few  of  the  necessaries  of  life  were  obtained  elsewhere. 
Their  industrial  growth  from  the  beginning  was  almost  phenomenal. 

These  people  have  always  been  true  to  their  adopted  country  and  its 
flag,  and  while  the  rumble  of  approaching  war  was  heard  in  the  council' 
chambers  of  the  nation,  a  com  pan  v  of  soldiers  was  formed  and  put  in 
training  under  the  military  leadership  of  ore  of  their  number,  and  with 
their  flint-lock  muskets  they  met  at  regular  intervals  to  perfect  themselves 
in  the  manual  of  arms,  and  the  whole  town  assumed  a  military  aspect; 
and  after  Fort  Sumpter  was  fired  upon  and  it  became  necessary  for  vol- 
unteers to  take  the  field  in  defense  of  the  TTnion,  no  braver  set  of  men- 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


101 


Steeple  Building  and  Clock  as  it  appeared   in  1869. 


Prize   Flag   Carried    in   a    Parade   at    Bishop    Hill. 
UNIVERSITY  Of  ILUINUW 


12 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


evef  faced  rebel  shot  and  shell  than  that  small  company  that  enlisted 
from  your  town;  how  well  they  were  drilled  is  attested  by  yonder  silk  ban- 
ner, row  almost  fallen  into  shreds,  for  which  trophy  the  entire  Regiment 
the  Fifty-seventh  Illinois  Volunteers  contested"  in  a  competitive  drill,  and 
Company  D  carried  off  the  prize.  Taking  part  in  the  battles  of  Fort  Donel- 
son,  Shiloh,  siege  and  battle  of  Corinth,  Vicksburg,  and  many  other  en- 
gagements; sharing  in  that  victorious  march  of  the  intrepid  Sherman,  which 
has  been  immortalized  in  song,  "From  Atlanta  to  the  Sea."  Participating 
in  the  grand  review  at  Washington,  they  had  then  earned  their  full  share 
of  martial  glory.  Some  of  them  failed  to  return,  and  many  a  father  and 
mother,  wife  and  child,  sweetheart,  sister  and  brother,  looked  in  vain  for 
the  return  of  their  loved  ones;  they  lie  buried  today  on  Southern  battle- 
fields, with  no  token  to  mark  their  last  resting  place,  while  their  memory 
is  ever  kept  sacred  by  kindred  and  friends  on  each  recurring  Memorial 
Day,  by  crowning  with  garlands  that  arch  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  The 
Unknown  Dead.  Some  of  them  are  still  with  us,  but  their  number  is  grow- 
ing less  as  year  by  year  rolls  round,  and  by  the  end  of  another  decade,  very 
few  of  the  old  soldiers,  or  old  settlers  will  remain. 

Your  town  today  is  provided  with  educational,  religious,  social,  frater- 
nal and  benevolent  organizations  to  such  an  extent  that  I  doubt  if  another 
town  of  its  size  in  the  State  of  Illinois  can  equal  it.  First  of  all  you  have 
the  public  school,  the  foundation  of  all  American  educational  institutions 
You  have  churches  and  Sunday  schools,  Epworth  and  Junior  Leagues,  a 
Chautauqua  Circle,  Modern  Woodmen,  Home  Forum,  Select  Knights  and 
United  Workmen,  each  and  all  doing  good  in  their  respective  fields;  and 
then  you  have  a  Voluntary  Donative  Society  to  look  after  the  interests  of 
the  worthy  poor. 

In  these  days  of  steam  and  electric  travel,  telegraph  and  long  distance 
telephone;  when  you  can  cross  the  Atlantic  in  less  than  six  days;  can  trav- 
el between  New  York  City  and  Chicago  in  twenty-four  hours;  can  send  a 
continuous  message  over  27,000  miles  completely  encircling  the  globe  in 
less  than  twenty  minutes,  it  would  seem  as  if  time  and  space  had  been 
annihilated,  and  it  seems  almost  incredible  to  look  back  upon  the  last  fifty 
years  and  see  all  the  industrial,  mechanical  and  scientific  improvements 
that  have  been  made  on  every  hand  since  the  first  settlers  set  foot  upon 
this  soil.  More  material  progress  has  been  made  in  the  world  in  the  fifty 
years  last  past,  than  in  any  other  two  hundre'd,  yes — four  hundred  years  of 
its  previous  history. 

And  now  my  friends  and  fellow  citizens,  Having  come  together  on  this 
beautiful  September  day — one  of  Nature's  grandest  and  most  glorious  holi- 
days— from  all  over  this  broad  land,  to  celebrate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  settlement  of  this  romantic  place,  and  for  the  renewing  of  "acquain- 
tance almost  forgot,"  I  hope  and  trust  that  we  shall  all  enjoy  ourselves  and 
feel  the  better  for  having  met  friends  of  long  ago,  and  as  time  rolls  round 
in  its  ceaseless  whirl,  may  we  ever  refer  to  This  day  as  one  of  happiness 
and  joy,  ever  to  be  remembered.  Again  I  thank  you. 


PETER 
JOHNSON, 
A  BROTHER 
OF  ERIC 
JANSON. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


13 


MARTIN   JOHNSON. 


CAPT.    ERIC  JOHNSON, 

57th   Reg.   111.  Vol.   Inft. 

Son   of   Eric  Janson. 


Address — Captain    Eric    Johnson,    League    City,    Texas. 
Fellow  Colonists  and  Invited  Friends: 

We  are  met  today  to  celebrate  and  commemorate  the  founding  and 
first  settlement  of  Bishop  Hill  Colony.  These  gray  haired  veterans — the 
survivors  of  the  original  colonists — need  no  address  to  remind  them  of 
the  past — to  them  it  is  a  living  reality — they  know  all  about  it,  and  much 
more  than  I  will  be  able  to  tell  in  the  short  time  allotted  to  me.  But  the 
greater  portion  of  this  audience  are  their  descendants,  friends  and  neigh- 
bors who  possess  only  a  fragmentary  knowledge  of  the  past  history  of  these 
colonists.  It  is  principally  them  that  I  will  address  on  this  occasion. 

That  my  hearers  may  fully  appreciate  the  standpoint  from  which  I 
view  the  past  as  well  as  the  present,  I  will  state  that  I  firmly  believe  there 
is  an  overruling  Providence  that  shapes  the  destinies  of  nations,  peoples, 
and  the  individual  as  well. 

.  Sacred  and  profane  history,  both  ancient  and  modern,  b-.var  testimony 
to  the  fact  that  the  exodus  of  people  and  nations  have  exercised  great  in- 
fluence upon  the  feligious,  moral  and  material  advancement  of  the  human 
race. 

The  first  exodus  on  record  is  where  God  commanded  Abram  to  depart 
from  Haran  in  these  words:  "Get  thee  out  of  thy  country,  and  from  thy 
kindred,  and  from  thy  father's  house,  unto  a  land  I  will  show  thee."  The 
second  is  the  great  exodus  of  the  Israelites  from  the  land  of  Egypt.  These 
two  events  were  the  preliminary  steps  in  God's  plan  for  the  redemption  of 
the  human  race. 

May  the  3d,  1607,  was  planted  the  first  successful  English  settlement 
within  the  borders  of  these  United  States.  It  was  made  by  the  chevaliers 
of  England,  men  and  women  of  wealth  and  standing  who  came  to  the  new 
world  to  embrace  the  enlarged  field  here  offered  to  increase  their  weafth 
and  power.  From  it  sprang  the  civilization  of  the  Southern  States. 

December  15,  1620,  on  Plymouth  Rock,  was  laid  the  foundation  of  an- 
other civilization  of  men  and  women  who  fled  from  religious  persecution  to 
a  land  where  they  hoped  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  religious  freedom. 

Fifty-one  years  ago  these  old  Bishop  Hill  Colonists  were  living  in 
their  respective  homes,  in  mountain  dells,  or  in  beautiful  valley.*,  whera 
meandered  sparkling  brooks  and  rivers,  or  on  the  borders  of  enchanting 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


lakes  where  interchanging  groves  of  oino  and  birch  enhanced  the  scenic 
beauty.  A  patriotic  love  of  native  country',  the  ties  of  xindred  and  child- 
hood scenes,  and  associations  held  them  in  strong  attachment  to  the  na- 
tive heath.  No  common  or  transitory  emotion  could  have  induced  them 
to  sever  ties  so  deai  and  so  sacred,  and  josclve  them  to  turn  their  backs 
upon  native  land,  old  time  friends  and  kindred  and  embark  upon  a  voyage, 
months  in  duration,  fraught  with  dangers  now  unknown. 

In  order  to  receive  a  full  conception  and  appreciation  of  the  causes 
that  led  to  the  exodus,  we  must  go  back  several  years  in  the  history  of 
these  people  to  find  the  true  cause. 

History  teaches  that  whenever  and  wherever  church  and  state  are 
united,  true  Christianity  suffers  and  the  church  loses  its  spiritual  power 

^and  becomes  a  mere  dead  formality.  Sweden  and  its  established  church 
became  no  exception.  The  church  had  lost  its  spirituality,  .aid  its  priests 
had  become  mere  guide  beards  preaching  perfunctory  and  formal  sermons, 
which  told  the  people  the  way  to  go  without  the  least  attempt  to  set  an 

•example  of  piety  or  purity  in  daily  life. 

In  the  thirties  and  early  forties  there  passed  through  the  provinces  of 
northern  Sweden  a  wave  of  religious  awakening  among  the  peasantry.  It 
was  not  brought  about  through  the  agency  of  any  revivalists.  It  seemed 
spontaneous,  displaying  a  longing  aspiration  of  the  soul  of  earnest  men 

'and  women,  for  the  bread  of  eternal  life  and  a  desire  to  lead  a  life  of  de- 
voted piety.  They  associated  themselves  together  in  groups  without  any 
formal  organization,  met  here  and  there  in  private  homes  for  the  reading 

•of  the  Scriptures  and  devotional  exercise.  Hence,  they  received  the  name 
of  Lasare  (readers). 

How  fitting  it  is  that  on  this  occasion  we  Have  the  pleasure  of  having 

;among  us  one  of  the  leading  pioneers  in  this  religious  movement,  and  per- 
haps the  only  living  representative  either  in  Sweden  or  America,  of  these 
original  "lasare,"  who  participated  in  this  religious  awakening  before  1830, 
in  the  person  of  our  revered  and  honored  colonist,  Rev.  J.  Olson,  who,  at 

'the  ripe  age  of  nearly  94  years,  has  been  spared  to  grace  this  commemora- 
tion of  the  results  of  the  labors  of  early  manhood.  Nearly  all  of  the  lead- 
ing colonists  were  identified  with  this  religious  awakening. 

It  is  with  delicacy  that  I  must  passingly  refer  to  the  part  taken  by  my 
own  father  in  this  religious  movement.  Perhaps  the  over  enthusiastic  ad- 
mirers of  him  may  ascribe  to  him  a  greater  share  in  the  origin  and  growth 
of  this  movement  that  culminated  in  the  emigration  to  Ameiica  and  the 
settlement  of  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony  than  richtfully  belongs  to  him. 

When  Eric  Janson  felt  impelled  by  his  religious  zeal  to  visit  Helsing- 
land,  he  came  to  a  field  that  had  already  been  well  cultivated.  This  ven- 
erable friend  of  ours  and  his  able  co-laborers  had  sown  the  feed  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  what  followed.  He  came  to  friends  who  gladly  received 
him.  The  reinforcement  thus  received  and  the  impetus  thus  given  to  this 
religious  movement  by  the  fiery  zeal  and  burning  eloquence  of  the  new 


Young  Old  Settlers'  Group,  taken  in  the  Park,  September  24,  1896. 

Top  Row  left  to  right  —  N.  Soder.  Jonas  Lindstrum,  P.  J.  Stoneberg, 
Axel  Gabrielson,  John  Root. 

Second  Row  —  Olof  Olson,  John  Soderquist,  Mrs.  Mary  Soderquist.  Jo- 
nas Olander,  Jonas  Headlund,  Mrs.  Mary  Johnson,  Peter  O.  Krans,  Mrs. 
Lottie  (Westberg)  Holden,  Mrs.  Caroline  Wlnroot,  Mrs.  Betsy  E.  Root, 
Master  Earl  Root. 

Third  Row  —  E.  L.  Swanson,  Mrs.  Jennie  Swanson,  Mrs.  Martha  Apel- 
gren,  Miss  Hannah  Chaiser,  Mrs.  Louise  Myrtengren,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Bar- 
low, Miss  Emma  Lind.  Mrs.  Pauline  Lindbeck,  Daniel  Lindbeck,  Isaac 
Blomberg,  Geo.  E.  Troline,  Mrs.  Christine  Blomberg,  Eric  Krans. 

Fourth  Row  —  Mrs.  Mary  Blom,  Olof  Krans,  Mrs.  Josephine  Kingdon, 
Hon.  Jonas  W.  Olson,  Jacob  Jacobson,  Mrs.  Kate  Nelson,  Mrs.  Anna  Pet- 
erson, Peter  Johnson,  Mrs.  Christine  Johnson,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hallfast, 
Mrs.  Anna  Nystrum,  Eric  Nystrum. 

Fifth  Row  —  Mrs.  Dr.  J.  F.  Vannice,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ericson,  Mrs.  Mary 
(Malmgren)  Olson,  Mrs.  Mary  (Jacobson)  Johnson,  Capt.  Eric  Johnson, 
Mrs.  Matilda  (Warner)  Rutherford,  Mrs.  Kate  (Bodinson)  Harmon,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Berg.  Miss  Nettie  Ericson. 


-if 
>  i 


H 


16  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

co-laborer  that  had  come  among  them,  increased  the  number  of  converts 
and  adherents  to  an  extent  that  it  alarmed  the  clergy  of  the  established 
church.  Measures  of  repression  were  deemed  necessary,  and  forthwith 
commenced  a  persecution  that  eventually  became  so  bitter  and  unrelent- 
ing that  the  adherents  of  the  ne~w  faith  became  convinced  that  unless  they 
relinquished  their  religious  convictions,  the  government  of  their  native 
land  was  powerless  to  protect  them  in  their  property  or  their  lives.  It 
was  then,  and  not  until  then,  that  their  longing  eyes  were  directed  to  the 
great  Republic  of  the  West. 

Thus  in  1845  Rev.  Olof  Olson,  brother  of  this  venerable  hero,  and  fath- 
er of  Hon.  J.  W.  Olson,  was  selected  as  a  trusted  agent  to  select  their  new 
home  in  the  New  World. 

The  decision  having  been  made  to  emigrate,  measures  were  at  once 
taken  to  carry  it  into  effect,  but  at  the  very  threshold  they  were  confronted 
with  a  "condition" — an  all  important  problem  had  to  be  solved.  Two  years 
or  more  of  unrelenting  persecution  had  cemented  them  together  into  a 
Christian  bond  of  brotherly  and  sisterly  love  that  was  as  strong  as  the 
religious  faith  in  which  they  lived  and  breathed.  But  comparatively  few 
were  blessed  with  means,  as  the  believers  came  from  the  peasantry  and 
laborers  in  mines  and  factories,  and  the  many  were  without  sufficient 
means  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  long  journey.  It  was  in  this  trying 
emergency  that  those  who  were  possessed  oT  means  sold  their  worldly 
possessions  cf  both  real  and  personal  property,  placing  the  proceeds  there- 
of in  a  common  fund.  Thus  all  who  were  of  one  faith  were  enabled  to 
emigrate. 

Tell  me  not  that  mere  human  persuasiveness,  or  a  mere  religious  en- 
thusiasm could  have  persuaded  so  many  to  sell  and  divide  the  same  with 
their  fellow  men.  Here  was  presented  a  practical  object  lesson  of  the  di- 
vine injunction,  "love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

In  Dalcarlia,  where  nature  reigns  supreme  in  her  august  grandeur  and" 
solemnity  and  scenic  beauty,  lives  a  race  of  people  celebrated  in  history 
for  their  heroic  deeds  of  valor  and  unconquerable  love  of  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence, and  on  more  than  one  occasion  have  they  saved  the  nation  from 
a  foreign  yoke,  when  the  rest  had  tamely  submitted  thereto.  From  this 
province  came  the  most  noted  example  of  this  self  sacrificing  love  to  fel- 
low men.  One  of  the  wealthiest  farmers  of  this  province,  one  L.  G.  Larson, 
who  sold  his  real  and  personal  property  at  great  sacrifice,  \v!th  which  he 
chartered  a  ship  and  gave  to  all  his  believing  neighbors  who  were  poor 
and  unable  to  pay,  a  free  passage  over  the  ocean  and  clear  through  to  their 
destination,  and  after  arriving  turned  over  into  the  common  fund  the  re- 
mainder for  the  purchase  of  land  and  the  necessities  of  life.  His  contri- 
bution to  the  common  fund  was  over  24,000  crowns.  Others  followed  In 
10,000,  8,000  and  lesser  amounts. 

When  our  Colonists  had  arrived  in  their  new  home  one  necessity  press- 
ed so  closely  upon  another,  that  even  had  no  pre-arranged  plan  been  in  ex- 
istence, circumstances  plainly  indicated  each  successive  step. 

Habitations  had  to  be  provided  for  each  successive  installment  of  new 
arrivals.  Food  must  be  procured,  provisions  made  for  the  future  in  the  pur- 
chase of  lands,  horses,  cattle,  farm  implements  and  seed.  To  have  turned" 
all  loose  to  shift  for  themselves  in  a  comparative  wilderness,  meant  want 
and  starvation  to  many,  and  in  direct  variance  with  the  self-sacrificing^ 
brotherly  love  that  brought  them  over,  yea,  it  would  have  been  heartless 
cruelty.  Besides  the  religious  zeal  that  had  induced  these  Colonists  to  for- 
sake fatherland  and  sever  ties  that  were  dear  and  sacred  still  burned  with 
unabated  glow  upon  their  hearts'  altar. 

While  singing  praises  of  thanksgiving  to  their  Heavenly  Father  for 
deliverance  from  religious  persecution,  and  with  gratitude  glowing  in  their 
hearts  that  they  were  now  in  a  land  where  they  could  worship  God  accord- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  their  conscience,  they  went  earnestly  and  cheerfully 
to  work  to  fell  the  timber  from  which  to  build  shelter  for  their  families,  to 
break  the  virgin  soil  and  sow  the  seed  that  would  bring  forth  the  suste- 
nance of  life.  They  brought  to  the  task  before  them  an  earnestness  of 
purpose,  strong  and  sinewy  muscle,  hardened  and  used  to  laborious  work, 
on  every  hand  and  at  every  step. they  had  to  encounter  and  overcome  try- 
ing and  harrassing  difficulties.  The  necessarily  crowded  condition  In 
which  they  had  to  live,  the  then  malarious  climate  soon  made  their  bones 
ache,  followed  by  the  burning  fever  of  ague  attacks,  stole  gradually  away 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  17 

the  inherent  muscular  strength  brought  from  the  fatherland.  Yet,  at 
times  an  insufficiency  of  food  would  try  their  spirit  of  endurance.  Death 
came  at  frequent  intervals  to  seek  many  a  dear  and  precious  victim,  but 
under  all  their  spirits  were  undaunted,  their  faith  undimmed  and  the  broth- 
erly and  sisterly  love  burned  as  brightly  as  ever.  Peace  and  happiness 
reigned  within  our  borders. 

Then  came  the  Asiatic  scourge  of  1849  wfiich  in  a  few  weeks  swept 
into  the  grave  over  one  hundred  of  the  very  flower  of  the  Colonists  send- 
ing mourning  into  every  family,  but  no  sooner  had  the  besom  of  death 
passed  away  then  those  remaining  returned  to  the  work  of  building  up 
their  new  home  and  laying  the  foundation  of  future  prosperity. 

But  the  Colonists  had  still  other  ordeals  and  trials  to  endure. 

Although  a  community  founded  upon  the  principles  of  peace  and  good 
will  to  all  men,  enemies  arose  on  the  outside  who  spoke  all  n>anner  of  evil 
against  the  Colonists,  representing  the  community  as  a  menace  to  the 
peace  of  the  state.  This  the  more  readily  received  credence  among  out- 
siders who  knew  the  Colony  only  from  evil  reports,  because  of  the  excite- 
ment caused  in  this  part  of  the  state  by  the  then  recent  expulsion  of  the 
Mormons  from  Nauvoo. 

Here  was  a  colony  of  foreigners,  speaking  an  unknown  tongue,  livint 
so  different  from  the  rest  of  the  world  that  suspicions  were  easily  aroused?1 

Thus  it  can  be  seen  how  easy  it  was  to  incfte  the  mobs  tbat  visited  the 
colony  during  the  winter  of  1849  and  '50.  But  thanks  to  the  friendship  and 
timely  help  of  our  nearest  American  neighbors  who  had  come  in  closer 
contact  with  the  Colonists,  and  had  learned  to  appreciate  them  at  their 
real  worth,  they  arose  as  a  wall  of  fire  between  us  and  our  enemies,  con- 
vincing the  leaders  of  the  mobs  that  they  had  been  deceived  P.S  to  the  true 
character  of  the  Colonists,  and  that  we  were  good  and  desirable  neighbors. 
Foremost  among  these,  outside  defenders,  were  Philip  Mauk,  John  Piatt, 
Thomas  Maxwell  and  Richard  Mascall,  and  the  Colonists  and  their  de- 
scendants owe  these  men  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude  for  the  tjmely  help  in 
the.^f0ur  of  need. 

/xThen  in  May,  1850,  came  the  untimely  death  of  the  one  who  had  been 
looked  up  to  as  the  leader,  which  cast  a  temporary  gloom  and  depression 
upon  the  Colonists. 

The  Colonists,  however,  undaunted  in  their  courage,  inspired  by  a  de- 
votion to  the  faith  that  bound  them  together  in  the  bonds  of  Christian 
brotherhood,  and  had  brought  them  across  the  wide  waters  to  their  new 
home,  bent  renewed  energy  to  the  work,  and  by  degrees  they  overcame  ev- 
ery difficulty  and  soon  entered  upon  an  era  of  prosperity. 

Their  landed  possessions,  the  acreage  under  cultivation,  the  horses, 
cattle,  swine,  sheep,  farming  implements  and  other  personal  property  in- 
creased year  by  year,  and  kind  Providence  blessed  them  with  abundant 
harvests  until  finally  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony  waxed  strong  and  even 
wealthy,  and  the  outside  world  pointed  no  longer  the  finger  of  scorn  but 
of  admiration. 

But  worldly  prosperity  does  not  always  bring  in  its  train  unalloyed 
happiness. 

Gradually  that  former  Christian  brotherly  love  commenced  to  cool  off, 
the  unity  and  oneness  in  religious  faith  began  to  waver.  To  sum  it  up  in 
a  few  words  the  communistic  life  that  had  been  born  of  the  noblest  im- 
pulses of  the  human  heart  and  of  pressing  necessities,  and  had  been  a 
blessed  bridge  over  an  otherwise  impassable  chasm,  had  outlived  its  ne- 
cessity and  usefulness. 

True  it  is  that  the  moment  the  Colonists  began  to  turn  their  thoughts 
towards  a  separation  and  individualization,  the  latent  selfishness  implanted 
in  every  human  breast,  that  during  the  years  of  communistic  life  had  been 
held  in  subjection,  was  now  fanned  into  a  flame,  and  hot  and  bitter  at  times, 
became  the  contests  in  our  councils,  until  an  amiable  plan  of  division  could 
be  devised. 

Fortunately,  however,  today,  we  old  Colonists  can  all  join  in  this  fes- 
tivity as  perfect  friends,  and  as  brothers  and  sisters  of  one  common  house- 
hold once  more.  Time  has  healed  every  sore,  assuaged  every  disappoint- 
ment, and  we  can  each  one  of  us  take  an  unprejudiced  and  unbiased  retro- 
spective view  of  the  past,  and  sincerely  and  truthfully  acknowledge  in  our 
hearts  that  our  then  opponents  were  not  always  in  the  wrong,  nor  were 
we  always  in  the  right. 


18  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

The  time  allotted  me  does  not  permit  any  further  tracing  of  the  growtn 
and  development  of  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony,  but  fortunately  what  remains 
to  be  noticed  is  within  the  ken  of  all  present,  besides  it  will  be  the  appro- 
priate task  for  the  historian  of  a  future  celebration.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  in 
the  length  and  breadth  of  our  great  Republic,  there  is  not  a  happier  nor 
more  prosperous  community  than  Bishop  Hill. 

I  cannot  close  my  address  without  paying  a  well  merited  compliment 
to  the  founders  of  Bishop  Hill  for  their  happy  selection  of  location.  I 
have  traversed  thirty-seven  states  of  this  Union,  together  with  a  part  of 
the  Canadas,  having  passed  through  and  visited  numberless  places  of  not- 
ed and  acknowledged  romantic  and  beautiful  location,  still  I  can  truthful- 
ly say  that  for  romantic  and  enchanting  beauty  of  location,  lacking  those 
superlative  adjuncts  of  scenic  beauty — the  combination  of  mountain  dale 
reflected  in  the  bosom  of  a  mirror-clear  lake — no  town  or  city  surpasses 
our  own  dear  Bishop  Hill. 

Last  but  not  least  this  exodus  of  the  Colonists  garnered  from  the 
provinces  of  Dalkarlia,  Helsingland  and  Westmanland,  noted  in  Swedish 
history  for  the  home  of  a  race  of  people  with  an  unconquerable  love  of  lib- 
erty, inherent  purity  of  character,  and  unswerving  loyalty  to  pure  and 
noble  principles,  the  best  and  choicest  of  their  sons  and  daughters,  trans- 
planted them  into  the  virgin  soil  of  the  fairest  and  choicest  portion  of  the 
garden  spot  of  the  United  States,  and  into  the  free  and  unpolluted  air  of  the 
land  of  freedom,  laying  the  foundation  of  a  community  thus  specially  se- 
lected, based  upon  self-sacrificing  Christian  and  brotherly  love  10  fellow 
man,  tried  and  purified  in  the  fiery  furnace  of  persecution,  privations  and 
sufferings,  that  baffle  all  descriptions,  which,  as  a  natural  foquence,  has 
left  its  indelible  stamp  of  character  upon  the  existing  community,  which 
through  decades  and  centuries  to  corne  will  exert  a  mighty  influence  for 
good,  religiously,  morally,  and  politically,  like  its  prototype,  the  pilgrims  of 
Plymouth  Rock  fame. 

Nor  could  I  close  without  paying  a  passing  tribute  to  the  dead.  The 
Allwise  Father  of  us  called  you  to  your  eternal  rest  before  you  were  per- 
mitted to  see  the  realization  of  your  hopes  and  aspirations.  But  your  un- 
selfish sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  religious  devotion  and  faith  will  live  till 
time  is  no  more,  in  the  hearts  of  your  descendants,  being  a  heavenly  inspir- 
ation to  spur  them  on  to  live  lives  that  shall  make  them  worthy  descend- 
ants of  so  illustrious  parentage. 

Now  a  word  to  the  descendants  of  these  old  Colonists  who  may  ques- 
tion the  wisdom  of  their  parents  in  sacrificing  their  all  for  the  good  of  the 
many,  if  any  such  there  be.  This  unselfish  sacrifice  of  your  parents  was 
made  through  the  noblest  impulses  of  the  human  heart.  It  made  it  possi- 
ble for  me  thousand  souls  to  be  transplanted  to  this  land  of  religious  free- 
dom, where  they  and  their  descendants  have  become  the  heirs  of  a  full 
citizenship  in  the  best  and  freest  government  under  the  sun.  Can  you  be- 
hold this  lovely  place  with  its  hallowed  associations  and  its  happy  homes, 
without  exultant  emotions  that  the  act  of  your  parents  made  ,1  possible  to 
exists?  Is  it  net  also  a  fact,  with  a  very  few  exceptions,  that  the  surviving 
heroes  and  their  descendants  who  thus  sacrificed  their  all  have  been  bless- 
ed four-fold  in  their  worldly  possessions?  Then  where  is  the  man  or  wom- 
an who  would  exchange  his  or  her  citizenship  of  this  great  Republic  for 
one  in  our  native  land? 

The  skeptic  mind  will,  perhaps,  question  my  position  taken  at  the  out- 
set that  the  hand  of  God  was  ever  in  the  exodus  of  these  Colonists;  that  the 
cause  fcr  which  this  sacrifice  was  made  came  to  naught.  Fellowman,  re- 
member that  we  judge  human  events  from  the  limited  vision  of  human 
eyes.  For  hundreds  of  years  the  exodus  of  Abram  seemed  barren  of  re- 
sults. For  forty  years  the  meanderings  of  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness, 
to  human  eyes,  appeared  an  aimless  wandering  in  the  desert.  The  results 
of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  on  Plymouth  Rock  have  not  even  today 
reached  their  culmination  point  in  the  influence  upon  the  civilization  of  this 
grand  Republic.  Who  can  foretell  what  God,  in  His  infinite  wisdom,  meant 
by  shaping  the  destiny  of  our  Bishop  Hill  Colony  forefathers?  Still,  it  has 
been  far  from  barren  of  results. 

Historians  of  great  research  and  erudition,  claim  that  the  English 
speaking  people  owe  a  great  part  of  their  indomitable  energy  and  aggres- 
siveness to  the  Scandinavian  blood  flowing  in  their  veins,  and  the  cosmo- 
politan race  now  in  its  formative  stage  in  the  United  States  needed  a  new 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


infusion  of  the  same  blocd.  Until  the  emigration  of  these  Colonists  in 
1846,  very  few  Swedes  four.d  their  way  to  the  shcres  of  this  great  Repub- 
lic, except  LOW  and  then  a/struggling  sailor  wto  deserted  his  ship  upon 
touching  American  shorer  The  commotion  caused  by  the  religious  perse- 
cution and  the  subsequent  emigration  attracted  attention  to  America,  and 
thereby  the  Oclcmt-ts  Jcecame  the  pioneers  of  tie  immigration  that  swelled 
in  volume  with  each  succeeding  year,  until  1,500,000  Swedes  have  landed  in 
these  United  States.  They  and  their  descendants  have  materially  assisted 
in  developing  the  resources  of  the  great  west,  and  are  today  exerting  an 
influence  that  is  felt  for  the  good  in  the  relizious,  moral  and  political  ad- 
vancement of  our  common  country. 

This  excdus  also  conferred  a  great  blessing  upon  Fa'herland.  It 
paved  the  way  for  the  religious  liberty  that  Sweden  enjoys  today,  and  it 
put  a  new  religious  life  into  even  the  established  church. 

In  conclusion,  we,  who  are  yet  among  the  living.  Rave  -\  sacred  and 
exalted  inheritance.  Let  us  rot  lower  the  hieh  ideal  of  Christian  and 
brotherly  love  so  strikingly  evemrlifed  in  the  early  trials  and  experiences 
of  these  Colonists.  Let  no  act  cf  ours  dim  the  luster  of  the  glory  of  the 
past.  Especially  may  the  rising  generation  in  whose  hands  will  soon  re- 
pose the  future  welfare  and  reputatirn  of  Bishop  Hill,  see  to  it  that  it 
will  continue  to  he  the  nursery  firm  which  will  he  sent  out  to  battle  with 
the  ups  and  downs  of  life,  men  and  women  of  noble  and  exalted  characters 
that  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  world.  May  our  cherished  and  beloved  Bis- 
hop Hill  be  as  worthy  of  its  one  hundredth  anniversary  as  it  was  of  its 
fiftieth. 


SCHOOL   HOUSE  AT   BISHOP   HILL 


20 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


m 


Hon.   Jonas   W.   Olson,   of   Galva, 


Hon.  Jonas  W.  Clson. 
Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  Fellow  Citizens  of  Bishop  Hill,  and 

Visiting  Friends: 

It  is  with  peculiar  emotions  that  I  greet  this  magnificent  audience, 
assembled  here  to  commemorate  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  founding 
of  Bishop  Hill.  I  assure  you  that  I  esteem  it  a  privilege  and  a  great  honor 
to  be  permitted  to  address  this  vast  assemblage  upon  this  commemorative 
occasion,  though  I  feel  that  the  duty  has  been  better  performed  by  others 
who  have  preceded  me,  and  that  there  are  still  others  who,  on  account 
of  long  connection  with  the  Colony  and  personal  knowledge  of  facts  and  in- 
cidents in  its  history,  would  be  much  better  able  to  perform  the  task  al- 
lotted to  me. 

Although  my  father,  Olof  Olson,  came  here  in  1845,  one  year  in  ad- 
vance of  the  Colony,  and  after  exploring  several  states  selected  its  present 
location,  and  it  might  appear  from  this  fact,  fhat  I  should  have  sonfJe  per- 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  21 

sonal  knowledge  of  its  affairs,  and  it  was,  as  I  understood,  for  this  reason, 
in  part,  at  least,  that  I  was  chosen  as  one  to  acfdress  you  today.  Yet,  I  am 
sorry  to  have  to  say  that  my  own  personal  knowledge  of  events  that  trans- 
pired are  extremely  limited,  as  you  will  readily  understand  "ft  hen  I  say  to 
you  that  my  parents,  sister,  brother  and  grandmother  all  died  when  I  was 
only  about  three  years  of  age,  and  I  was,  within  three  or  tour  years  later, 
taken  away  from  the  Colony,  and  have  never  returned  to  live  here  since. 

All  I  know  of  my  own  knowledge  is  confined  to  a  few  youthful  recollec- 
tions that  appear  as  a  dream  of  infancy.  I  did  not  even  know  my  own 
birthday,  my  own  age,  or  the  birthdays  of  my  parents,  sister  and  brother 
until  I  received  the  letter  I  hold  in  my  hand,  which  I  have  recently  receiv- 
ed from  Rev.  Olof  Norlin,  the  present  pastor  of  the  church  at  Soderala, 
Sweden. 

The  letter  is  written  in  the  Swedish  language  and  is  a  personal  letter 
in  answer  to  some  inquiries  I  had  addressed  to  the  writer,  but  as  I  believe 
it  will  be  of  interest  to  some  of  the  original  Colonists  from  Soderala  I  will 
take  the  liberty  to  read  it  in  the  language  in  which  it  is  written. 

(Mr.  Olson  here  reads  the  letter  in  Swedish.) 

I  will  only  translate  and  give  in  English  so  much  of  this  letter  as  re- 
fers to  the  birth  of  my  parents,  sister  and  brother,  myself  and  my  aunt: 

"Your  father,  Olof  Olson,  from  Kingsta,  No.  5,  was  born  in  Soderala 
May  16th,  1807;  your  mother,  Anna  Maria  Westman,  was  born  in  Soderala, 
April  6th,  1809.  Their  children  were,  daughter,  Beata,  born  in  Soderala, 
December  22nd,  1836;  son,  Olof,  born  in  Soderala,  December  15th,  1838; 
son,  Jonas  W.,  born  in  Soderala,  June  30th,  1843;  your  aunt,  your  mother's 
half-sister,  Katrina  Wilhelmina  Petronalla  Skoglund,  was  born  in  Soderala, 
July  16th,  1828." 

Until  I  received  the  above  letter,  July  7th,  the  date  given  to  me  by  my 
aunt  from  her  recollection,  was  supposed  tc  be  my  birthday,  and  had  been 
celebrated  as  such  by  my  children. 

From  what  I  have  said,  you  will  rea,dily  perceive  that  my  knowledge 
of  Sweden  and  of  events  connected  with  the  Colony  is  mostly  confined  to 
what  I  have  learned  from  tradition,  through  statements  of  surviving  mem- 
bers, and  through  historical  sketches  and  writings  of  others. 

It  appears  that  my  father  and  his  brother,  Rev.  Jonas  Olson,  that  aged 
patriarch  who  still  survives,  and  at  the  advanced  age  of  94.  though  too 
feeble  to  address  us  is  with  us  today,  had  for  some  years  prior  to  their 
emigration  been  engaged  in  a  religious  movement  in  Sweden  whose  adher- 
ents were  known  by  the  name  of  Lasare  (Readers  or  Devotionalists),  be- 
cause they  assembled  in  their  private  houses  to  hold  their  devotional  meet- 
ings and  read  their  Bibles  assiduously  in  their  homes. 

The  Devotionalists  were  a  sober,  industrious  and  pious  people  who  ab- 
stained from  drinking,  dancing,  and  other  things  deemed  "'.vorldly  pleas- 
ures," which  was  tolerated  among  the  adherents  of  the  Established 
Church.  Some  of  them  discouraged  the  use  of  all  devotional  literature  ex- 
cept the  Bible,  saying  "that  the  best  human  writings  are  full  of  error  and 
only  tend  to  distract  from  the  word  of  God." 

According  to  Mikkelson's  History  the  religious  revival  in  Sweden 
which  culminated  in  the  emigration  of  the  Colony,  dates  from  the  year 
1842  when  Eric  Janson  was  introduced  by  Jonas  Olson  to  chc  Devotional- 
ists of  Helsingland. 

From  this  time  Janson  became  tne  recognized  leader  in  religious  revi- 
vals and  his  teachings  became  known  as  Jansonism. 

I  quote  from  Mikkelson's  Monograph: 

"Jansonism  and  the  form  which  it  ultimately  assumed  was  largely  de- 
termined by  the  attitude  of  the  established  church.  Eric  Janson  did  not  at 
first  display  separatic  tendencies.  He  merely  preached  against  rationalism 
and  dead  orthodoxy  which  was  prevalent  in  the  Swedish  Cluirch.  He  ad- 
vocated a  return  to  the  simplicity  and  earnestness  of  primitive  Christian- 
ity. He  traveled  from  parish  to  parish  conducting  revival  meetings.  The 
number  of  his  adherents  was  soon  estimated  from  1,500  to  4,000.  The  cler- 
gy (of  the  established  State  Church)  became  alarmed  of  a  strong:  religious 
sentiment  over  which  they  had  no  control,  and  the  import  of  which  thev 
did  not  understand.  They  regarded  the  Jansonists  as  a  new  sect  holding 
doctrines  that  were  subversive  of  the  existing  church  organizations.  In  or- 
der to  regain  their  lost  power  they  denounced  Janson  from  the  pulpit. 
They  attempted  to  refute  his  heresies  in  regard  to  devotional  literature  and 


BISV'OP    HILL    COLONY    SEMT-CENTENNIAIi. 


"Big  Brick"  Building.  Basement  used  for  kitchen  and  dining  hall;  up- 
per stories  for  residence  purposes.  Bakery  and  Brewery  Building  in  fore- 
ground, now  used  as  a  public  hall,  and  where  dinner  was  served  during 
the  Reunion. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  23 

the  doctrine  of  sanctification.  But  Janson  was  gifted  wita.  a  matchless 
power  of  debate,  besides  being  well  versed  in  Scriptures,  and  whenever  it 
came  to  a  battle  of  words  was  almost  certain  to  come  off  victorious.  The 
Jansonites  were  refused  admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  Eric  Janson  re- 
taliated by  saying  there  could  be  no  faith  without  persecution;  that  there 
was  no  saving  power  in  the  sermon  of  an  unconverted  minister;  and  for- 
bade any  of  his  followers  to  worship  in  the  established  church,  holding  his 
conventicles  (religious  meetings)  at  the  time  of  the  regular  churcu  service. 

"As  the  influence  of  Janson  increased,  so  also  the  number  and  hos- 
tility of  his  enemies.  His  followers  were  subjected  to  abuse  and  insult  of 
the  rabble.  Their  meetings  were  disturbed,  their  houses  pelted  with  stones, 
and  their  persons  assaulted.  But  they  praised  the  Lord  who  tried  their 
faith  by  allowing  them  to  be  persecuted.  They  marched  along  the  high- 
ways at  night,  and  sang  spiritual  hymns,  or  gathered  in  front  of  the  par- 
sonages to  pray  for  the  conversion  of  their  unregenerate  pastors. 

"In  June,  1844,  an  event  took  place  which  gave  the  opponents  of  th& 
new  heresy  an  opportunity  of  adopting  severe  legal  measures.  Already 
since  1840  Eric  Janson  had  witnessed  against  fhe  abuse  of  devotional  liter- 
ature. The  human  writings  of  Luther,  Arnd£  Scriver  and  Nohrborg  had 
usurped  the  place  of  the  Bible.  These  new  idols  had  stole  away  the  hearts 
of  the  people.  They  must  be  destroyed. 

"The  burning  of  the  books  took  place  June  11.  A  great  concourse  of 
people  from  the  country  assembled  on  a  farm  near  Tranberg.  An  immense 
bonfire  was  made  of  books,  pamphlets  tracts — everything  except  the  Bible, 
the  hymn  book  and  catechism  (especially  everything  advocating,  or  ex- 
cusing the  union  of  Church  and  State).  Amidst  the  singing  of  hymns  and 
great  spiritual  exaltation,  the  assemblage  watched  the  burning  and  de- 
struction of  the  'Harlot  of  Babylon.' 

"The  embers  of  the  fire  had  hardly  died,  before  the  news  spread  to 
every  quarter  of  Sweden.  Two  days  later  Janson  was  arrested  and  brought 
before  the  Court  in  Gefle.  After  a  preliminary  trial  he  was  transferred  to 
Westeras.  He  was  finally  released  to  await  a  new  trial  but  was  not  al- 
lowed to  return  to  Helsingland.  In  the  meantime  delegations  of  his  adher- 
ents had  visited  the  King  and  had  been  promised  a  hearing  oi  their  griev- 
ances before  the  proper  authorities.  Upon  his  release,  Jai'son  himself 
sought  admission  to  the  King,  and  was  so  graciously  received  that  he 
wrote  back  to  his  friends  'I  have  triumphed  at  Court.'  In  September,  1844, 
he  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the  Court  at  Westeras.  In  his  defense 
he  stated  that  the  Church  had  abused  its  trust;  that  it  had  fallen  from 
the  true  faith;  that  its  servants  were  mere  worldlings;  and  that  he  had  a 
call  from  God  to  restore  the  true  faith  and  show  sinners  the  way  to  sal- 
vation. He  was  released. 

"In  the  meantime  the  ardor  of  his  adherents  in  Helsingland  had  not 
abated.  Jansonism  was  being  preached  in  every  quarter.  The  re-appear- 
ance of  the  leader  gave  new  impetus  to  the  movement.  His  enemies  had 
not  been  able  to  do  him  injury.  The  King  and  the  highest  secular  author- 
ities in  the  realm,  it  was  claimed,  were  his  sympathizers.  It  was  only  the 
hierarchy  of  the  Established  Church  that  sought  his  destruction.  Full 
amnesty  mieht  soon  be  expected;  fhe  abomina,ble  machinations  of  the 
Church  would  be  thwarted;  the  dawn  of  religious  freedom  was  not  far  dis- 
tant. So  thought  his  confiding  followers.  His  journey  through  Helsingland 
was  one  continued  ovation.  Everywhere  the  people  flocked  to  the  conven- 
ticles. In  some  parishes  the  churches  remained  almost  empty. 

"October  28,  1844,  the  second  crusade  against  the  religious  bocks  took 
place;  this  time  in  Soderala  Parish.  Janson  was  immediately  arrested  and 
was  again  released  to  await  a  new  trial.  Through  the  zeal  of  the  inferior 
clergy  he  was  arrested  six  times;  three  times  released  by  royal  orders; 
he  was  transferred  from  one  court  to  another,  but  it  is  claimed  he  never 
received  a  thorough  impartial  investigation  or  fair  trial.  His  followers 
were  subjected  to  the  same  sort  of  treatment. 

"The  ancient  and  obsolete  law  against  conventicles,  adopted  in  1726 
against  Hallean  pietists  and  other  heretics,  was  revived  in  all  its  severity. 

"Jonas  Olson  and  his  younger  brother,  Olof  Olson,  were  made  to  pay 
heavy  fines  for  holding  conventicles,  or  religious  meetings  without  author- 
ity or  consent  of  the  established  church.  They  were  summoned  before  the 
House  of  Bishops  in  Upsala  to  answer  for  their  religious  opinions." 

It  is  related  to  me  that  the  last  time  that  Olof  Olson,  my  father,  was 


24  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

convicted,  was  for  holding  a  religious  meeting,  at  which  he  read  to  those 
assembled,  the  llth  Chapter  of  St.  Luke,  including  the  Lord's  Prayer,  at 
which  he  concluded  his  exhortation  with  the  following  quotation: 

"  'For  I  am  persuaded  that  neither  death  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  princi- 
palities, nor  powers,  nor  things  present  nor  ffiings  to  come. 

'  "Nor  heights,  nor  depths,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  sep- 
arate us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.'  " 

(The  speaker  also  gave  the  above  quotation  in  the  Swedish  language). 

I  am  informed,  but  how  accurate  this  information  is  I  do  not  know, 
that  according  to  the  ancient  and  obsolete  statute  under  which  these  pro- 
secutions were  carried  on,  the  final  penalty  in  case  of  a  further  conviction 
would  have  been  banishment  and  thai  to  avoid  being  exiled  he  concluded 
to  voluntarily  leave  the  country  and  go  to  America  in  order  that  he  might 
take  his  family  along. 

I  again  quote  from  Mikkelson's  Monograph  as  follows: 

"In  1845  he  (Eric  Janson)  sent  Olof  Olson  to  America  to  examine  the 
country  and  fix  up  a  suitable  location  for  the  community.  This  was  be- 
fore modern  Swedish  emigration  to  the  New  World.  America  was  then 
a  name  almost  unknown  to  the  peasants  of  Helsingland. 

"In  New  York  Olof  Olson  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Rev.  Olof  Hed- 
strom  who  is  known  as  the  founder  of  the  Swedish  Methodist  Church  in 
America.  Hedstrom  was  stationed  as  a  missionary  among  Scandinavian  sea- 
men in  New  York.  He  held  services  in  a  dismantled  vessel  (known  as  the 
"Bethel  Ship")  a  part  of  which  was  fitted  up  for  the  reception  of  Olof  Ol- 
son's family,  consisting  of  a  wife  and  two  children,  who  remained  there 
during  the  winter  of  1845-6." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  there  were  only  two  children.  The  third,  your 
humble  speaker,  who  had  been  stricken  with  paralysis  from  which  he  never 
recovered,  and  which  left  him  a  cripple  for  life,  was  so  sick  at  the  time 
that  it  was  not  expected  he  could  live,  and  being  too  ill  to  take  along  on 
such  a  journey,  I  was  left  to  the  care  of  my  grandmother  and  my  aunt, 
Catherina  Wilhelmina  Petronella  Skoglund,  to  be  brought  over  later  with 
the  Colony  in  case  I  should  survive. 

"Under  the  influence  of  Hedstrom,  Olof  Olson  joined  the  Methodist 
communion,  and  presently  proceeded  on  hir.  way  to  Victoria,  Knox  County, 
Illinois,  where  he  was  hospitably  received  by  Hedstrom's  brother,  Rev. 
Jonas  Hedstrom.  After  a  prospecting  tour  through  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and 
Minnesota,  Olof  Olson  wrote  back  to  Sweden  confirming  previous  favorable 
reports  of  the  country,  and  recommending  Illinois  as  the  future  place  of 
settlement." 

In  this  connection  I  have  been  informed  by  my  aged  uncle,  Rev.  Jonas 
Olson,  that  my  father's  first  letter  from  America  to  him,  came  in  care  of 
the  pastor  of  the  Established  Church  at  the  Parish  of  Soderala,  Sweden, 
who  requested  him  to  take  a  seat  between  himself  and  his  wife  and  read 
the  letter  to  them,  which  he  did,  but  was  considerably  embarrassed  when 
he  came  to  that  part  of  the  letter  wherein  my  father  safd  that  when  they 
came  to  emigrate  they  should  not  worry  about  "Prestbetyg"  (pastor's  let- 
ter of  recommendation),  because  the  situation  was  understood  and  their 
persecution  known  here,  and  as  there  was  no  Established  Church  or  Priest- 
ly aristocracy  in  America,  the  poorer  the  "Prestbetyg"  the  more  cordial 
and  hearty  would  be  their  welcome. 

In  July,  1846,  Olof  Olson  was  joined  by  Eric  Janson,  and  together  they 
fixed  upon  Henry  County  as  the  place  to  locate  the  settlement,  my  father 
having  already  purchased  forty  acres  of  land  in  Red  Oak  Grove,  but  a 
short  distance  west  of  here,  which  to  this  day  is  known  as  "O.'son's  field." 
In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  came  the  Jonas  Olson  party,  among  whom 
was  my  grandfather  and  aunt,  who  brought  me  over.  I  am  told  that  the  day 
previous  to  our  arrival  my  mother  had  died  STie  had  not  yet  been  buried, 
and  I  do  not  know  whether  I  remember  seeing  her  or  not;  it  seems  to  me 
that  I  have  a  sort  of  a  dazed,  hazy  recollection  of  being  ushered  into  the 
presence  of  some  one  dead,  but  whether  I  then  knew  that  I  was  looking 
upon  the  face  of  mv  mother,  knowing  that  it  was  cold  fn  death,  I  do  not 
know  and  cannot  tell.  If  at  the  time  of  her  death  she  knew  that  I  was  on 
the  way,  and  so  very  near,  that  if  her  life  could  only  have  been  spared 
another  day  she  would  have  been  permitted  to  see  her  unfortunate  child 
once  more,  if  only  to  greet  him  with  a  last  parting  glance  expressive  of 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  25 

what  no  tongue  can  describe — a  mother's  love.  I  can  imagine  that  as  that 
sainted  mother  closed  her  eyes  to  the  last  sad  scenes  of  earth,  in  her  un- 
speakable anguish  her  last  thoughts  were  probably  to  wonder  what  would 
become  of  her  poor  crippled  boy.  My  father,  sister,  brother  and  grandmoth- 
er all  died  only  a  few  days  later,  and  it  seems  so  passing  strange  that 
of  the  entire  family  I  should  have  been  the  only  one  to  survive  and  be  al- 
lowed the  privilege  of  participating  in  the  celebration  of  this  Fiftieth  Anni- 
versary of  the  founding  of  Bishop  Hill.  The  feelings  that  overwhelm  me 
make  me  almost  wish  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Spiritualists  might  be  true. 
If  disembodied  spirits  were  permitted  to  look  down  upon  the  scenes  of 
earth,  it  might  be  a  consolation  to  that  sainted  mother  to  know  that  her 
then  seemingly  unfortunate  child  is  thus  honored,  and  that  the  people  in 
this  world  with  whom  his  lot  has  fallen  have  Been  so  kind  to  him.  *  *  * 

It  is  said  that  "While  the  orthodox  devotionalists  of  Helsingland  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  independent  farmers  and  artisans,  the  Jansonists  also  in- 
cluded in  their  number  a  large  proportion  of  miners,  factory  hands  and 
poor  people." 

Many  of  these  were  unable  to  defray  their  expenses  of  a  long  journey, 
some  were  actually  in  debt,  but  their  debts  were  paid  and  all  admitted  on 
terms  of  equality  with  those  who  were  well-to-do,  if  not  in  affluent  circum- 
stances, some  contributing  as  high  as  24,000  kroner  in  gold. 

They  based  their  reasons  for  communism  purely  on  scriptural  grounds. 
"Their  reading  in  the  main  being  limited  to  one  book,  but  in  that  book 
they  found  that  the  first  Christian  church  took  care  of  the  poor  and  that 
material  goods  had  been  held  in  common."  TBis  action  on  the  part  of  the 
wealthy  members  of  the  Colony  certainly  attested  their  sincerity. 

About  1,100  were  found  willing  to  leave  ffieir  native  land  with  all  the 
endearments  of  home  and  kindred,  to  escape  persecution  and  secure  relig- 
ious freedom.  The  final  parting  is  thus  described: 

''The  emigrants  gathered  in  Goteborg,  Soderhamn  and  Stockholm,  but 
by  far  the  greatest  number  sailed  from  Gefle." 

(Galva  was  intended  to  be  a  namesake  of  this  latter  city,  but  the 
tongue  of  our  American  friends  was  too  thick  to  pronounce  Gefle,  and  so 
it  was  corrupted  to  Galva). 

The  first  vessel  set  sail  from  Gefle  in  the  summer  of  1846.  For  weeks 
previous  to  the  departure  of  the  vessel  vehicles  of  every  description  came 
trundling  into  the  seaboard  city  of  Gefle.  From  a  distance  of  over  a  hun- 
dred miles  pedestrians  came  travel-stained  and  footsore.  A  feverish  excite- 
ment reigned.  No  one  wanted  to  be  left  behind.  It  was  a  sad  parting. 
Families  were  torn  asunder,  children  left  their  parents,  husbands  left  their 
wives,  the  mother  left  her  infant  in  the  cradle.  It  was  the  flower  of  the 
youth  that  went,  principally  young  men  and  women  between  the  ages  of 
twenty-five  and  thirty-five.  Their  friends  never  expected  to  see  them 
again." 

Knowing  that  many  of  you,  who,  like  myself,  are  descendants  of  the 
Colonists,  yet  know  nothing  of  the  Fatherland,  except  as  it  is  described  by 
others,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  repeat  to  you  a  description  from  one  of 
the  world's  most  famous  descriptive  travelers,  Paul  B.  Du  Chaillu,  as  given 
by  him  after  he  had  lived  in  Sweden  and  Norway  many  years,  and  travel- 
ed more  extensively  perhaps  than  any  other  man  ever  traveled  in  that 
country.  I  also  repeat  it  that  we  may  be  better  able  to  appreciate  the  sac- 
rifices the  members  of  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony  made  when  they  were  prac- 
tically driven  into  exile  from  such  a  land: 

"There  is  a  beautiful  country  far  away  toward  the  icy  North.  It  is  a 
glorious  land;  with  snowy,  bold,  and  magnificent  mountains;  deep,  narrow, 
and  well-wooded  valleys;  bleak  plateaux  and  slopes;  wild  ravines;  clear 
and  picturesque  lakes;  immense  forests  of  birch,  pine,  and  fir  trees,  the 
solitude  of  which  seems  to  soothe  the  restless  spirit  of  man;  large  and  su- 
perb glaciers,  unrivalled  elsewhere  in  Europe  for  size;  arms  of  the  sea. 
called  fjords,  of  extreme  beauty,  reaching  far  inland  in  the  midst  of  grand 
scenery;  numberless  rivulets,  whose  crystal  waters  vary  in  shade  and  col- 
or as  the  rays  of  the  sun  strike  upon  them  on  their  journey  toward  the 
ocean,  tumbling  in  countless  cascades  and  rapids,  filling  the  air  with  the 
music  of  their  fall;  rivers  and  streams  which,  in  their  hurried  course  from 
the  heights  above  to  the  chasm  below,  plunge  in  grand  water-falls,  so  beau- 
tiful, white,  and  chaste,  that  the  beholder  never  tires  of  looking  at  them; 
they  appear  like  an  enchanting  vision  before  Kim,  in  the  reality  of  which 


26  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

he  can  hardly  believe.  Contrasted  with  these  are  immense  areas  of  deso- 
late and  barren  land  and  rocks,  often  covered  with  boulders  which  in  many 
places  are  piled  here  and  there  in  thick  masses,  and  moorlands,  all  so 
dreary  that  they  impress  the  stranger  with  a  feeling  of  loneliness  from 
which  he  tries  in  vain  to  escape.  There  are  also  many  exquisite  sylvan 
landscapes,  so  quiet,  so  picturesque,  by  the  sea  and  lakes,  by  the  hills  and 
the  mountainsides,  by  the  rivers  and  in  the  glades,  that  one  delights  to  lin- 
ger among  them.  Large  and  small  tracts  of  cultivated  land  or  fruitful 
glens,  and  valleys  bounded  by  woods  or  rocks,  with  farm-houses  and  cot- 
tages, around  which  fair  haired  children  play,  present  a  striking  picture  of 
contentment.  Such  are  the  characteristic  features  of  the  peninsula  of 
Scandinavia,  surrounded  almost  everywhere  by  a  wild  and  austere  coast. 
Nature  in  Norway  is  far  bolder  and  majestic  than  in  Sweden;  but  certain 
parts  of  the  coast  along  the  Baltic  present  charming  views  oC  rural  land- 
scape. 

"From  the  last  days  of  May  to  the  end  of  July,  in  the  northern  part 
of  this  land,  the  sun  shines  day  and  night  upon  its  mountains,  fjords,  riv- 
ers, lakes,  forests,  valleys,  towns,  villages,  hamlets,  fields,  and  farms;  and 
thus  Sweden  and  Norway  may  be  called  "The  Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun." 
During  this  period  of  continuous  daylight  the  stars  are  never  seen,  the 
moon  appears  pale,  and  sheds  no  light  upon  the  earth.  Summer  is  short, 
giving  just  time  enough  for  the  wild-flowers  to  grow,  to  bloom,  and  to 
fade  away,  and  barely  time  for  the  husbandman  to  collect  his  harvest, 
which,  however,  is  sometimes  nipped  by  a  summer  frost.  A  few  weeks 
after  the  midnight  sun  has  passed,  the  hours  of  sunshine  shorten  rapidly, 
and  by  the  middle  of  August  the  air  becomes  chilly  and  the  nights  cooler, 
although  during  the  day  the  sun  is  warm.  Then  the  grass  turns  yellow, 
the  leaves  change  their  color,  and  wither,  and  fall;  the  swallows  and  other 
migrating  birds  fly  toward  the  south;  twilight  comes  once  more;  the  stars, 
one  by  one,  make  their  appearance,  shining  brightly  in  the  pale-blue  sky; 
the  moon  shows  itself  again  as  the  queen  of  the  night,  and  lights  and 
cheers  the  long  and  dark  days  ot  the  Scandinavian  winter.  The  time 
comes  at  last  when  the  sun  disappears  entirely  from  sight;  the  heavens 
appear  in  a  blaze  of  light  and  glory,  and  the  stars  and  the  moon  pale  be- 
fore the  aurora  borealis. 

"Scandinavia,  often  have  I  wandered  over  thy  snow-clad  mountains, 
hills,  and  valleys,  over  thy  frozen  lakes  and  rivers,  seeming  to  hear,  as  the 
reindeer,  swift  carriers  of  the  North,  flew  onward,  a  voice  whispering  to 
me,  'Thou  hast  been  in  many  countries  where  there  is  no  winter,  and 
where  flowers  bloom  all  the  year;  but  hast  thru  ever  seen  such  glorious 
nights  as  these?"  And  I  silently  answered,  'Never!  never!' 

This  country,  embracing  nearly  sixteen  degrees  in  latitude,  is  inhabited 
chiefly  by  a  flaxen-haired  and  blue-eyed  race  of  men — brave,  simple,  honest, 
and  good,  and  probably  the  most  independent,  honest  and  faithful  of  the 
European  nationalities. 

They  are  the  descendants  of  the  Norsemen  and  of  the  Vikings,  who 
in  the  days  of  old,  when  Europe  was  degraded  by  the  chains  of  slavery, 
were  the  only  people  that  were  free,  and  were  governed  by  ire  laws  they 
themselves  made;  and,  when  emerging  from  their  rock-bound  and  stormy 
coast  for  distant  lands,  for  war  or  conquest,  were  the  embodiment  of  cour- 
age and  daring  by  land  and  sea.  They  have  left  to  this  day  an  indelible  im- 
pression of  their  character  on  the  countries  they  overran,  and  in  which  they 
.settled;  and  England  is  indebted  for  the  freedom  she  possesses,  and  the 
manly  qualities  of  her  people — their  rovins:  disposition,  their  love  of  the 
pea,  and  of  conquest  in  distant  lands— to  this  admixture  of  Scandinavian 
blood,  which,  through  hereditary  transmission,  makes  her  prominent  as 
descended  chiefly  from  Anglo-Scandinavians  and  not  Anglo-Saxons. 

"We  will  now  travel  from  one  end  of  this  land  to  the  other,  crossing  it 
many  times  from  sea  to  sea,  over  well-made  roads  and  wild  tracts,  in  sum- 
mer and  in  winter,  and  linger  among  Us  people." 

When  the  Jansonites  were  aboard,  and  the  vessels  about  to  leave  the 
shores  of  Scandinavia,  I  am  told  they  sang  a  song  and  every  eye  was 
filled  with  tears.  I  do  not  know  what  sons:  they  sane,  but  can  imagine 
none  that  would  have  been  more  appropriate  or  expressive  of  their  feel- 
ings than  the  language  of  Frithiof  when  he  was  exiled.  I  will  ask  my 
American  friends  to  pardon  me  while  I  repeat  these  verses  in  the  original 
Swedish.  (Here  Mr.  Olson  recites  the  verses  in  Swedish.  The  audience 


28  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

was  visibly  moved  and  applause  greeted  the  recitation.)  Nineteen  at- 
tempts at  translation  have  been  made,  but  none  have  succeeded  in  pre- 
serving the  beauty,  feeling  or  pathos,  of  the  original.  I  will  now  read  to 
you  what  is  said  to  be  the  best  translation  into  English: 

"Thou  front  of  creation, 

Exalted  North! 
I  have  no  station 

On   thy  green  earth. 
Thy    lineage    sharing 

My  pride   doth  swell. 
Thou  home  of  daring! 

Farewell,  farewell! 

Farewell  thou  royal 

Valhalla-throne! 
Thou  night's-eye  loyal, 

Midsummer   sun! 
Thou  sky  unclouded 

As  hero's  soul! 
Thou  vault  star-crowded! 

Farewell,  farewell! 

Ye  mountain  ranges 

Where    honor    dwells, 
Creation  changes 

Your  rune-face  tells. 
Ye  lakes  and  highlands 

I  knew  so  well, 
Ye  rocks  and  islands, 

Farewell,  farewell! 

Farewell  ye  grave-mounds 

Where  the  linden  showers 
Near  azure  wave-bounds 

The  dust  of  flowers! 
But  time  revealeth 

And  judgeth  well 
What  earth  concealeth, 

Farewell,  farewell! 

Farewell  ye  Lowers, 

Beneath  whose  shade 
So  many  hours 

By  brooks  I've  played; 
Ye  friends  of  childhood, 

Ye  meant  me  well, 
I  love  your  wildwocd; 

Farewell,  farewell! 

My  love  is  cheated, 

My  home  is  burned, 
My  shame  completed. 

I'm  exiled,  spurned. 
From  land  appealing 

To  ocean's   swell, 
Life's  joyous  feeling, 

Farewell,   farewell ! " 

Their  homes  had  net  been  burned,  but  they  had  been  pelted  with 
stones  and  every  other  indignity  heaped  upon  them.  It  seems  strange  that 
there  should  have  been  found  in  such  a  country  and  among  such  a  people, 
those  who  would  persecute  for  opinion's  sake  as  these  Colonists  were 
persecuted.  But  no  more  strange  than  appears  the  burning  of  witches  in 
New  England,  or  that  there  should  have  been  found  among  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  those  who  tolerated  laws  to  inflict  capital 
punishment  for  the  impossible  crime  of  witchcraft. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


1 


30  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

The  authentic  history  of  nearly  every  ration  Legins  witn  an  emigra- 
tion, and  the  cause  of  emigration  is  usually  persecution  or  unfavorable 
condition  of  the  emigrant  in  his  native  country.  In  the  dim  vista  of  the 
past,  beyond  all  history  and  spoken  of  by  tradition  only,  this  transfer  of 
peoples  from  their  native  toil  has  Leen  the  course  of  empires. 

It  has  been  said  that,  "Though  all  written  memorials  may  have  per- 
ished of  the  vast  processions  which  moved  thousands  of  miles  through  cen- 
turies of  time,  they  can  te  traced  back  over  space  and  time  by  words  in- 
dicating process  and  implements  of  primitive  and  universal  industries,  or 
war,  or  family  relations  which  are  the  common  property  of  races  that 
now  seem  almost  diverge." 

Great  civilizations  are  those  which  are  the  most  cosmopolitan,  and 
those  nations,  as  a  rule,  aie  the  least  progressive  whose  population  is  the 
most  unmixed  and  exclusive.  China  may  be  cited  as  an  example. 

There  has  not  teen  on  earth  within  historic  times,  so  far  as  I  can 
•call  to  mind,  ore  single  great  civilized  nation  of  unmixed  blood. 

The  Englishman  is  Celt,  Anglo-Saxon,  and  Scandinavian,  through  im- 
migration and  conquest.  The  Frenchman  is  Celt,  Roman  and  Gcth.  The 
American  is  an  intermixture  and  a  compound  of  nearly  all  nationalities  of 
the  earth.  The  United  States  of  America  is  the  greatest  Republic  in  the 
world,  and  to  te  one  of  its  wcrthy  citizens,  native  or  naturalized,  is  one 
of  the  greatest  privileges  of  earth. 

A  large  share  cf  this  greatness  is  due  and  traceable  to  the  sterling 
character  of  its  Colonists. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  cne  cause  of  this,  cur  adopted  country's 
greatness,  is  to  be  found  in  the  amalgamation  of  diverse  races  and  na- 
tionalities that  first  colonized  and  peopled  it.  These  considerations  give 
great  importance  to  occasions  like  this. 

It  is  of  no  little  moment  that  the  descendants  of  a  great  people,  who 
are  destined  to  assist  in  forming  a  still  greater  race,  are  able  to  point  to 
the  very  spot  in  this  great  Mississippi  Valley,  where  is  to  found  the  foun- 
dation head,  the  source  of  that  affluent  of  Scandinavian  blood  which  is 
making  its  way  into  that  great  stream  of  humanity  which,  like  the  great 
river,  broadening  and  widening  as  it  goes,  receives  its  tributaries  of  many 
lands  as  it  flows  majestically  through  the  heart  of  this  great  continent. 

While  our  interest,  our  hopes  and  aspirations  as  well  £>s  the  hopes 
and  aspirations  of  our  children  are  now  all  identified  with  this,  the  land 
of  our  adoption,  and  while  we  are  Americans  all,  we  yet  have  a  lingering 
love  for  thb  land  of  our  birth,  that  spot  where  we  first  saw  light,  and  we 
point  with  pardonable  pride  to  the  universally  conceded  fact  that  the 
Swedish  character  yields  to  that  of  no  other  nation  in  those  traits  which 
•enable  a  people  to  form  a  new  and  great  State;  enterprising,  hardy,  inde- 
pendent and  thrifty,  with  such  thrift  alone  as  industry,  economy  and  hon- 
est toil  can  give,  lovers  of  freedom  and  valiant  in  its  defense,  the  Swedish 
people,  whenever  they  have  appeared  in  history,  they  have  done  so  with 
honor  and  renown. 

The  name  and  fame  of  the  great  Gustaf  Vasa,  who  escaped  from  im- 
prisonment and  was  afterward  hunted  like  a  wild  beast,  when  he  was 
concealed  among  the  peasants  of  Dalarne,  is  known  throughout  the  world, 
as  is  also  that  of  "Gustaf  Adolph,"  and  that  great  statesman  of  his  age, 
Axel  Oxenstjerna. 

Strange  that  amid  all  the  horrors  of  thirty-five  year  war  in  which 
Sweden  was  eneaeed,  Gustaf  Adolph  should  have  found  time  to  engage  in 
the  formation  of  a  Colony,  and  yet  we  learn  that  in  1P26  \  charter  was 
granted  to  a  company  of  Swedes  to  form  a  Colony  in  the  New  World,  in 
which  the  King  pledged  himself  the  sum  of  $400.000,  to  the  stock  of  the 
•enterprise,  and  that  in  the  following  year  a  few  emigrants  came  over. 

The  distractions  of  the  terrible  war  delayed  the  establishment  of  this 
Colony,  but  it  is  said  that  the  project  was  ever  present  in  the  minds  of 
this  illustrious  King,  and  that  only  a  few  days  before  his  heroic  death  at 
the  battle  of  Lutzen,  he  declared  it  to  be  the  "Jewel  of  his  Kingdom." 

After  his  death  the  Great  Chancellor  Oxenstjerna,  under  Queen  Chris- 
tina, carried  out  his  design.  The  Charter  was  renewed  pnd  finally  in 
1638  a  Colony  of  Swedes  and  Fins  landed  upon  the  banks  of  the  Delaware. 
The  adjacent  country  became  known  as  New  Sweden.  The  Colony  was 
united,  prospered  and  maintained  its  independence  during  a  period  of 
about  seventeen  years,  when,  on  account  of  the  impoverished  condition 


o 


32  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

of  Sweden,  growing  out  of  the  30  years  of  war,  the  infant  Queen  Christina 
was  unable  to  protect  her  possessions  in  this  country,  and  New  Sweden 
was  annexed  to  the  possession  of  the  Hollanders,  and  eventually  passed 
under  the  supremacy  of  William  Penn. 

It  is  said  that  the  records  of  this  first  Swedish  Colony  are  few,  but 
entirely  to  the  credit  of  the  Colonists,  and  that  one  fact  deserves  special 
mention.  The  Colonists  of  other  nations  were  slave-holders.  Slavery  had 
teen  almost  universal  on  this  hemisphere.  In  the  Charter  of  this  Swed- 
ish Colony,  however,  the  great  Swedish  King  wrote,  "The  Swedish  Nation 
is  laborious  and  intelligent,  and  surely  we  shall  gain  more  by  a  free 
pecple  with  wives  and  children."  It  thus  appears  that  the  first  edict 
against  slavery  on  this  continent  was  by  a  Swedish  King  and  the  last  by 
an  American  President.  The  first  by  the  great  Gustavus  Adolphus;  the 
last  by  the  martyred  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Swedish  representatives  sat  in  the  first  legislature  convened  by  Wli- 
liam  Penn  at  Philadelphia  in  1683,  and  assisted  in  framing  the  thoroughly 
democratic  constitution  of  the  Colony. 

In  less  than  a  hundred  years  later  the  Swede  appears  conspicuously 
in  the  struggle  for  independence  as  the  champion  of  American  liberty. 

The  name  of  Axel  Fersen  and  his  comrades  in  arms  should  never  be 
forgotten  by  the  American  people.  When  France  sent  her  chivalrous  sol- 
diery under  the  leadership  of  LaFayette  and  Rochambeau,  to  aid  the  young 
Republic  in  its  struggle  against  the  oppression  and  tyranny  of  Great 
Britain,  among  the  most  gallant  and  courageous  soldiers  were  those  of 
the  Royal  Swedish  Regiment  in  the  service  of  Louis  the  XVI.  Its  Colonel 
was  Axel  Fersen,  who  afterwards  distinguished  himself  for  his  daring  at- 
tempt to  rescue  Marie  Antoinette  from  her  fatal  captivity.  This  regiment 
of  Swedes  under  the  eye  and  in  the  presence  of  Washington,  shed  its  blood 
upon  the  last  battle-field  of  our  Revolutionary  war,  at  Yorktown,  and  there 
saw  the  flag  of  England  lowered  and  the  independence  of  the  United  States 
assured. 

The  numter  of  Swedish  Colonists  on  the  Delaware  river  appears  to- 
have  been  something  over  900,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  their 
numrers  appear  to  have  been  about  or  nearly  the  same  as  the  members 
of  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony 

The  names  as  given  in  the  list  of  original  members  of  the  Colony  of 
New  Sweden  clearly  indicate  their  nationality  but  many  of  them  have 
sirce  become  so  corrupted  or  changed  as  to  lose  all  trace  of  their  Swed- 
ish origin,  as  for  instance  Hendrickson  was  changed  to  Henderson,  Kyn 
to  Keen,  Jokom  to  Yocum,  Bonde  to  Boon,  Jonasson  to  Jones,  etc. 

To  many  of  the  descendants  of  the  Colony  of  New  Sweden  the  lan- 
guaee  as  well  as  the  names  of  their  ancestors  have  been  lost  They  have 
become  so  intermingled  with  other  nationalities  and  the  whole  so  thor- 
oughly Americanized  that  it  would  at  this  time  be  impossible  to  tell  how 
many  of  the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  New  Jersey  and  other 
eastern  states  owe  their  oriein  to  these  early  settlers  on  the  Delaware 
river,  but  certain  it  is  that  these  people  have  played  an  important  part  in 
formine  the  character  and  shaping  the  destinies  of  this  country. 

Communication  between  the  descendants  of  the  Swedish  emigrants  to 
New  Sweden  and  the  Fatherland,  and  emigration  from  Sweden  to  this 
courtrv  had  practically  ceased  long  before  t^e  members  of  the  Bishop 
Hill  Colony,  the  presecuted  "Lasare,"  of  Helsineland  and  Westmanland 
began  to  cast  about  for  a  new  home  to  which  they  could  flee  from  their 
persecutor?. 

The  advent  of  this  new  Swedish  Colonv  was  the  heeinniner  of  a  new 
epoch,  the  orerine  of  a  new  tide  of  Swedish  emigration  numbering  ac- 
cordine  to  the  last  census  almost  a  million  Scandinavians.  \vho,  toeether 
witb^tjieir  immediate  descendants,  are  now  almost  as  numerous  as  the 
pre?ert  peculation  of  Sweden. 

The  advent  of  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony  in  1846  opened  up  a  new  tide 
o'  Swedish  emigration  unheprd  of  before,  which  has  neopled  the  state  of 
Illinois  and  the  en  ire  Northwest  with  prosperous  Swedish  homes  and 
flourishing  communities. 

As  any  history  of  the  United  States  which  fails  to  mention  the  Swed- 
ish Colony  of  New  Sweden  mu?t  te  incomplete,  PO  a  complete  history  of 
Illinois  and  the  great  Northwest  cannot  be  written  with  the  name  of 
Bishop  Hill  Colony  left  out. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


33 


It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony  in  Henry  Coun- 
ty, Illinois,  were  no  less  lovers  of  liberty  than  its  prototype  on  the  Dela- 
ware. 

I  understand  that  the  first  vote  in  this  country  of  the  Swedes  of 
Bishop  Hill  was  unanimous  for  the  Democratic  party  but  when  the  ques- 
tion of  human  slavery  became  an  issue  in  politics,  they  voted  almost 
unanimously  with  the  Republican  party,  because  that  party  was  then  the 
most  radical  in  its  opposition  to  slavery  and  it  has  been  &aid  of  them 
"that  they  were  as  true  to  the  principles  of  Ifberty  as  the  magnetic  needle 
to  the  north  pole." 

When  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  broke  out  no  citizen  of  this  country 
was  more  loyal  to  the  flag  and  the  cause  of  the  union  than  the  members 
of  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony,  none  more  ready  to  rally  to  its  defense  and 
offer  themselves  if  need  be  as  a  willing  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  the 


ERIC   FORSSE, 
Major  57th  Reg.  III.  Vol.  Inft. 


34 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


bleeding  country  of  their  adoption.  No  soldiers  from  this  great  state  dis- 
played more  courage,  fortitude  and  valor  than  did  that  Swedish  company 
from  Bishop  Hill — Company  D,  57th  Regiment  of  Illinois  Volunteers. 

Another  fact  I  wish  to  mention.  There  stands  in  Lincoln  Park  at 
Chicago  a  monument  to  Linnaeus,  "the  King  of  Flowers,"  an  honor  to 
the  Swedish  people  of  this  country.  A  former  citizen  of  Bishop  Hill,  per- 
haps more  than  any  other  man,  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  procuring  the 
erection  and  completion  of  this  monument. 

While  speaking  of  the  achievements  of  the  Scandinavians  of  this  coun- 
try, I  must  not  forget  to  make  honorable  mention  of  that  illustrious  Swede 
who,  through  his  inventive  genius,  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  cause  of 
the  Union,  and  in  the  darkest  hour  saved  the  United  States  navy  from 
destruction  and  perhaps  some  of  its  principal  cities  from  capture,  a  man 
who  was  an  important  factor  in  saving  the  union;  a  man  who  died  in  his 
adopted  country,  but  whose  remains  were  claimed  by  his  native  land  and 
whose  dust  now  sleeps  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  mother  earth,  his  mem- 
ory honored  alike  in,  the  land  of  his  birth  and  the  home  of  bis  adoption — 
need  I  mention  his  name — John  Ericson,  the  inventor  of  the  Monitor. 

The  Scandinavian  race  has  also  excelled  in  story,  in  song  and  saga 
as  well  as  in  war,  statesmanship,  poetry  and  science. 

The  name  and  fame  of  Jenny  Lind,  Christina  Nilsson  and  Hans  Chris- 
tian Anderson  is  known  throughout  the  world. 

As  faint  glimmers  of  the  "Northern  LigKls"  of  Scandinavia  may  be 
seen  in  other  countries  so  the  genius  of  this  people  from  the  land  of  the 
midnight  sun  has  illuminated  other  lands. 


ERIC    U.    NORBERG, 
at   one   time   Secretary   of  the    Colony. 


Historical    Sketch— Philip    J.    Stoneberg,    Bishop    Hill. 
(From  the  Swedish  original,  translated  and  revised.) 
Let  us  turn  back  in  history  to  the  earlier  half  of  this  century  and  give 
a  look  at  the  condition  of  religion  in  central  Sweden. 


REV.   JONAS   OLSON. 


JONAS   KRONBERG.  OLOF  STONEBERG. 

THREE   OF   THE   TRUSTEES   OF   THE   COLONY. 


36 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


OLOF  JOHNSON. 


JACOB  JACOBSON. 


SWAN    SWANSON. 


JONAS    ERICSON. 


FOUR    OF    THE    TRUSTEES    OF    THE    COLONY. 

A  darkness,  so  to  speak,  envelopes  the  Established  Church.  Here  and 
there — almost  everywhere — the  social  life  is  stamped  with  intemperance. 
Priest  and  layman  are  neither  better.  Dancing,  swearing,  and  card  play- 
ing belong  to  the  order  of  the  day. 

But  here  and  there,  nevertheless,  a  light  is  shining  in  this  dark  night. 
A  few  have  obeyed  the  Lord's  voice  and  have  forsaken  the  ways  of  sin. 
The  bible  or  religious  writings  are  studied  in  private  or  in  meetings.  These 
burning  lights  are  the  "Readers"  or  "Devotionalists." 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  37 

Thus  Devotionalists  were  found  in  Soderala  parish,  South  Helsingland, 
as  early  as  1825.  Among  them  were  Jonas  and  Olof  Olson,  who  were  es- 
pecially active  in  this  work.  Then  there  lived  a  few  in  Ofvanaker  parish, 
while  in  1837  a  revival  took  place  among  the  youth  of  Alfta,  but  the  re- 
sult was  only  temporary;  among  the  awakened  was  Andrew  Berglund.  In 
Norrala,  Bjuraker  and  elsewhere,  Devotionalists  were  found  as  time  wei>^ 
on. 

But  another  Devotionalist  may  be  particularly  mentioned.  Born,  De- 
cember 19,  1808,  in  Biskops  Kulla  parish,  Uppland,  he  was  converted  in 
the  morning  of  life;  for  he  was  26  years  old  when,  as  if  through  Provi- 
dential intervention,  he  was  healed  from  certain  physical  ailments  and 
came  to  feel  a  deep  religious  sprit.  Through  love  for  the  brethren  this 
"reader" — Eric  Janson — went  to  visit  "readers"  in  South  Helsingland.  He 
was  then  living  in  Osterunda  parish,  Westmanland.  The  year  following, 
1843,  he  as  a  tradesman,  took  a  load  of  flour  and  went  northward.  In 
Soderala  he  stopped  over  Sabbath  with  Jonas  Olson.  With  him  he  attend- 
ed a  devotional  meeting.  At  the  next  meeting  Eric  Janson  made  a  stirring 
talk  to  the  people  assembled.  He  proclaimed  that  the  bible  is  the  only 
true  guide  to  salvation,  and  for  a  religious  life.  Further  journeys  were 
made  to  Helsingland.  One  of  these  was  to  Hudiksvall  when  Janson  visited 
Forssa  parish.  His  success  as  a  revival  preacher  was  great. 

In  1843  Janson  moved  to  Forssa  parish,  from  whence  Olof  Stoneberg 
moved  to  Osterunda,  Westmanland.  Meantime  the  revivals  continued. 
Several  men  who  were  fluent  speakers  addressed  the  gatherings.  Not  a 
few  laid  aside  their  everyday  work  temporarily  and  made  tiips  to  other 
parishes.  All  these  people  were  now  called  Jansonists,  since  Janson  had 
been  instrumental  in  starting  this  religious  awakening. 

Opposition  arose  on  the  part  of  the  Established  Church  because  the 
teachings  of  Janson  were  looked  on  as  disturbing.  Janson  maintained 
that  salvation  implies  full  cleansing  from  sin  and  the  acquiring  of  peace. 
He  regarded  the  bible  as  the  one  book  which  should  be  read  to  give  light 
on  eternal  things. 

Janson's  declaration  regarding  devotional  books  was  not  wtihout  its 
results.  On  June  11,  1844,  many  books  were  burned  in  Alfta  In  October 
a  pile  of  books  was  burnt  in  Soderala;  while  books  also  were  consigned 
to  the  flames  the  same  fall  in  Forssa. 

The  days  of  arrest  and  prison-confinement  were  at  hand.  Janson  was 
taken  on  June  13,  1844 — two  days  after  the  burning  of  books  in  Alfta — and 
hurried  to  Gefle  prison,  thence  to  Westeras.  Through  a  petition  to  the 
King  he  was  freed.  Four  men  went  to  StocKholm  and  after  considerable 
difficulty  received  an  audience  before  the  King,  who  said  that  on  their 
arrival  home  Janson  would  be  free  again.  When  freed,  Janson  himself, 
with  a  companion,  went  to  the  King,  who  asked  him:  "Do  you  desire 
mercy?"  "No,  I  desire  justice,"  was  the  reply.  When  about  to  go  out 
it  was  found  that  the  door  could  not  be  opened,  but  the  King  led  them  out 
a  back  way — a  sign,  as  it  were,  of  how  Janson  was  to  one  day  leave  his 
native  country. 

He  was  arrested  in  November  and  transported  to  Gefle  to  be  tried  for 
insanity;  but  he  was  released  and  ordered  to  Upsala  to  be  "warned  for 
delusions."  On  December  22  he  was  taken  in  Soderala  to  Gefle  prison, 
where  he  was  till  April  18,  1845,  when  he  was  released  through  petition 
to  the  King. 

If  Eric  Janson  had  to  suffer,  his  followers  were  likewise  subjected 
to  fines,  blows  and  imprisonment.  Much  could  be  said  about  this,  but  we 
must  confine  ourselves  to  relate  only  a  few  of  such  occurrences. 

In  the  summer  of  1844  a  certain  number  of  persons  had  to  appear 
before  the  court  at  Thorstuna  on  account  of  complaint  of  the  Parish  Priest 
at  Osterunda,  and  pay  fines. 

On  December  18th,  the  same  year,  Jonas  and  Olof  Olson  were  sued 
to  appear  at  Upsala  to  answer  for  their  religious  belief.  In  Gefle  they 
were  arrested  for  preaching,  but  released  when  their  destination  was  made 
known.  Through  the  assistance  of  Justice  Henschen  they  were  enabled 
to  call  on  the  King  at  Stockholm,  who  promised  to  help.  On  their  arrival 
at  Upsala  the  two  brothers  were  not  fairly  treated.  After  returning  home, 
Jonas  Olson  was  arrested  on  New  Year's  eve,  taken  to  Gefle  and  placed 
among  prisoners  whom  he,  as  a  crown  official,  had  formerly  assisted  in 
.convicting.  He  was  released  in  a  few  days. 


38 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


Steeple    Building    and    Clock    as    it    appeared    in    1896. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  39 

In  Soderala  it  happened  that  Olof  Olson  read  at  a  small  gathering 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  something  from  the  Scriptures.  For  this  he  was 
fined  100  crowns  and  10  crowns  for  "Sabbath  breaking."  In  Osterunda 
parish,  Olof  Stoneberg  was  reading  from  the  bible  Sunday  afternoon,  May 
12,  1845,  at  a  gathering  at  a  neighbor's  house.  A  mob  came,  entered  the 
room  and  severely  bruised  the  reader,  while  others  also  received  blows. 

About  11  o'clock  on  the  night  of  August  17,  1845,  the  ParJsh  Priest  in 
Osterunda,  with  a  few  other  men,  broke  into  a  dwelling  place  and  be- 
haved unseemly.  Their  object  was  to  search  for  Janson. 

A  prayer  meeting  was  being  held  in  Forssa  parish,  on  June  24,  1845, 
under  the  leadership  of  Eric  Janson.  The  sheriff,  the  priest  and  a  large 
mob  came,  too.  Their  purpose  was  to  arrest  Janson.  As  the  sheriff  stood 
on  the  steps  from  which  Janson  was  speaking,  he  was  pushed  down  by 
a  plucky  woman.  Janson  stepped  down,  went  through  the  crowd  and 
with  a  few  companions  made  his  escape  to  Soderala  parish. 

For  fifteen  weeks  Janson  was  concealed  from  the  public.  Thirty 
crowns  were  offered  for  information  as  to  his  whereabouts.  Then  the 
priest  in  Delsbo  parish  sued  Janson  to  appear  at  the  court  there  for 
"blasphemous  utterances."  Janson  finally  agreed  to  go  to  Delsbo  which 
he  did  with  a  friend.  The  judge  saw  no  cause  for  imprisonment;  but  be- 
cause of  the  great  hostilities  toward  Janson  it  was  decided  to  confine  him 
for  life  in  Gefle  prison. 

While  Janson  was  being  taken  to  prison,  there  appeared  four  men  on 
the  highway;  one  stopped  the  horse;  another  cut  the  reins;  a  third  threw 
the  driver's  cloak  over  the  latter 's  head  and  held  him;  the  fourth  took 
Janson  from  the  prison-cart.  Janson  was  then  concealed  in  the  parishes 
of  Bollnas,  Vaxna,  Ofvanaker,  Alfta,  Mora  and  Malung.  A  journey  was 
thereupon  made  over  forests  and  mountains  to  Christiania.  Norway. 
Here,  in  January,  1846,  under  an  assumed  name,  he  left  with  a  few  for 
America. 

That  Sweden  was  not  ripe  for  the  Jansonists  is  apparent  from  the 
persecutions  referred  to.  There  was  no  longer  any  hope  for  them  to 
enjoy  the  privileges  of  the  Established  Church.  Besides,  they  were  de- 
nied the  right  to  witness  in  courts.  Thus  but  little  was  left  for  them  in 
Sweden. 

Some  adventurous  Swede  had  once  in  a  while  traveled  to  America. 
Already  in  1845  Olof  Olson  had  gone  to  America.  In  New  York  he  en- 
joyed the  friendship  and  hospitality  of  Rev.  O.  G.  Hedstrom  in  the  "Beth- 
el" Ship.  Olson  was  later  recommended  to  Rev.  Hedstrom's  brother,  Rev. 
Jonas  Hedstrom,  of  Victoria,  Illinois. 

The  time  Janson  had  passed  in  imprisonment  and  isolation  had  not 
been  lost.  A  hymn-book  was  written;  also  a  catechism.  These  were 
printed  with  great  risk  to  the  printers. 

Janson  made  a  plan  for  the  emigration.  As  it  occurred  in  the  apos- 
tles' days  so  should  it  now  occur.  Janson  appointed  certain  men,  who 
should  receive  all  monies  into  a  common  fund,  for  the  communistic  so- 
ciety it  had  been  decided  to  form.  Property  was  sold  and  money  ob- 
tained. As  much  as  24,000  crowns  came  under  Gabriel  Larson's  name 
from  Malung.  Others  again  were  poor,  whose  debts  were  paid,  besides 
their  passage. 

It  was  found  that  about  1,100  people  were  ready  to  emigrate.  But 
the  emigration  was  not  to  take  place  without  difficulties.  Passports  were 
denied  the  people,  and  it  was  only  through  a  petition  to  the  royal  author- 
ities that  everything  was  made  clear.  Nor  did  the  emigration  take  place 
without  the  exemplification  of  Scripture.  Husband  and  wife  were  parted; 
children  from  their  parents;  parents  from  their  children.  Sometimes  no 
well  uttered  farewell  was  spoken — in  the  dead  of  night  family  ties  were 
unceremoniously  severed.  Friends,  relatives  parted  to  meet  no  more  on 
earth. 

A  voyage  on  the  sea  was  not  so  inviting  in  those  days  as  now.  The 
ships  were  small  and  incommodious.  But  of  course  the  many  Swedish 
emigrants  had  to  put  up  with  the  conditions  existing. 

The  first  shipload  of  emigrants  that  left  Soderhamn  suffered  ship- 
wreck and  the  voyage  was  repeated  later. 

One  ship  at  one  time,  another  at  another,  left  port,  either  at  Soder- 
hamn or  Gefle  or  Stockholm  or  Goteburg.  A  stop  was  usually  made  at 
Copenhagen,  whereupon  the  course  was  directly  to  New  York.  The  num- 


40 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


ber  of  emigrant  passengers  varied.  One  ship  might  have  150,  another  75, 
while  a  third  about  50.  The  time  the  journey  took  was  long,  usually  about 
three  months.  One  ship  was  five  months  on  the  way,  including  a  stop 
in  England  for  repairs.  One  ship,  with  about  50  emigrants,  was  lost  on 
the  sea;  another  suffered  shipwreck  on  the  American  coast. 

From  New  York  the  journey  was  jnade  up  the  Hudson  river  to  Al- 
bany and  thence  on  the  Erie  canal  to 'Buffalo;  next  on  the  Great  Lakes 
to  Chicago.  From  Chicago  the  greater  number  went  on  foot,  while  wagon 
transportation  was  secured  for  the  luggage,  with  which  a  few  aged  ones 
and  children  might  ride. 

Eric  Janson  and  some  others  had  been  a  few  weeks  at  Jonas  Hed- 
strom's  at  Victoria,  when  a  company  of  emigrants  from  Malung  parish 
arrived.  A  few  weeks  more  were  spent  there.  On  August  1st  Olof  Olson 
had  purchased  for  $250,  of  a  settler  in  Stark  county,  40  acres  on  section 
9,  and  20  acres  on  section  17  in  Weller  township,  Henry  county.  On 
August  21st  there  were  bought  for  $1,100,  156  acres  on  section  8.  Hither 
then — to  Red  Oak  Grove — went  Janson,  Olson  and  the  other  immigrants. 
Here  were  log  houses,  wheat  to  harvest,  and  a  few  cattle. 

A  good  place  to  establish  the  colony  was  lound  on  section  14,  on  a  cer- 
tain hillock,  where  >.  was  a  spring,  a  small  wood  at  hand  and  a  little  creek. 

Eric  Janson  bought  160  acres  on  this  section,  September  26.  On  the 
same  day  were  purchased  from  the  government  for  $400,  160  acres  on  sec- 
tion 24,  and  160  acres  on  section  23. 

Thus  was  Bishop  Hill  begun,  named  after  the  parish  that  gave  Janson 
birth. 

A  few  log  houses  and  dug-outs  were  here  when  more  emigrants  came. 
Some  of  these  emigrants  came  first  to  Red  Oak  Grove,  then  hither.  More 
dug-outs  were  made  until  in  time  they  were  over  a  dozen  in  number;  into 
them  the  fall  rains  crept  as  well  as  other  unpleasant  things. 

Diseases  came.  In  Red  Oak  a  number  died  because  of  the  changed 
climate  and  food.  A  monument  is  today  standing  in  Red  Oak  to  the 
memory  of  50  who  died  in  '46-'47.  During  the  winter  of  '47  there  died  96 
in  Bishop  Hill,  of  whom  11  perished  of  the  measles. 

Yet,  amid  such  circumstances,  the  praises  of  Zion  were  sung.  A 
tent-church  was  raised  in  the  fall  of  '46,  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  It  seated 
800  persons.  Every  morning  Janson  called  the  people  to  morning  prayers. 

In  the  spring  of  '47  arrived  those  immigrants  who  came  to  New  York 
the  previous  fall,  when  the  canals  were  frozen.  However,  a  score  of  men 
came  overland  in  the  winter  to  construct  an  earthen  wall. 


Church  Building. 


The  meeting  house  is  in  the  upper  story..  The  pews  are 
of  solid   walnut. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  41 

Besides  the  log  houses  and  dug  outs,  a  few  houses  were  built  of  sod, 
some  of  which  served  as  kitchens.  In  '47  the  first  frame  house  was 
built.  Since  the  tent-church  burned  down,  accidentally,  services  were  held 
in  the  woods  until  the  new  church  was  erected  in  1848.  Several  who  had 
lived  in  dug-outs  now  moved  into  the  dwelling  rooms  in  the  lower  stories 
of  the  church. 

In  time  the  industries  increased.  The  cultivation  of  flax  was  taken 
up  in  earnest.  Of  the  flax  crop  of  '47  there  were  made  12,473  *£  yards  lin- 
en. The  next  year  there  were  woven  4,129  yards  of  carpeting  and  12,454 
yards  linen.  In  '51  the  zenith  was  reached,  31,579  yards  of  woven  goods 
were  produced.  From  beginning  to  end,  that  is,  from  '48  to  and  including 
1860,  169,386  yards  of  woolen  goods  were  manufactured. 

More  land  was  bought  in  '47  and  '48.  On  October  19,  1849,  Eric  Jan- 
son  bought  of  Robert  D.  Foster,  for  $3,000,  1,116  acres  of  land  in  and 
around  LaGrange,  now  Orion. 

In  August,  1849,  the  Asiatic  cholera  was  introduced  by  a  few  Nor- 
wegians. A  child  of  six  months  died,  thereafter  grown  persons.  Protection 
was  sought  at  other  places,  among  which  was  LaGrange.  But  on  came  the 
uninvited  guest.  At  LaGrange  70  died.  There,  today,  a  gravestone  marks 
their  resting  place.  After  three  weeks  the  pestilence  ceased,  but  many  a 
one  over  the  hundred  mark  was  gone. 

In  1850  more  emigrants  came  from  Sweden.  On  Lake  Michigan  a 
number  died  of  cholera;  of  37  who  came  from  the  district  of  Angerman- 
land  only  7  reached  their  destination.  From  Chicago  emigrants  now  often 
went  on  to  Henry  by  water. 

In  1847  adobe  was  manufactured.  But  in  f49  brick-making  was  carried 
on.  100,000  bricks  were  made  the  first  month.  After  the  cholera  the 
work  was  resumed,  10,000  to  12,000  being  made  daily. 

The  first  grinding  of  flour  was  on  hand-mills.  Then  two  grist  mills 
were  built,  one  run  by  water  and  one  by  wind.  In  '49  work  was  begun 
on  the  big  steam  mill,  which  had  a  capacity  of  100  barrels  a  day. 

In  March,  1849,  a  company  went  to  California  to  seek  for  gold.  The 
company  numbered  Jonas  Olson  and  eight  others.  They  reached  their 
destination  in  August,  after  a  journey  of  over  2,500  miles. 

But  while  a  few  were  in  California  to  seek  gold,  and  others  in  Sweden 
to  bring  emigrants,  a  cloud  came  over  the  colony.  The  voice  of  the  lead- 
er was  hushed  one  day,  and  that  forever  here.  Yet,  not  before  its  owner, 
Eric  Janson,  had  preached  his  last  sermon  on  the  text:  "I  have  fought 
a  good  fight,  I  have  kept  the  faith."  The  13th  of  May  came  and  went. 
The  leader's  remains  were  laid  away;  but  tie  great  God  was  alive  and 
went  about. 

After  Janson's  death,  his  wife,  Sophia  Janson,  authorized  Andrew 
Berglund  as  responsible  for  the  leadership  of  affairs. 

The  successor  of  Berglund  was  Jonas  Olson,  who  had  returned  home  in 
February,  1851. 

Since  the  land  was  owned  in  the  names  of  different  individuals,  and 
since  certain  privileges  could  be  obtained  through  a  charter,  such  a 
document  was  obtained  January  17,  1853.  The  Colony  was  organized  with 
seven  Trustees  in  whose  names  all  Colony  property  was  vested.  The  Trus- 
tees were  Olof  Johnson,  Jonas  Olson,  Jonas  Ericson,  Jacob  Jacobson, 
Jonas  Kronberg,  Swan  Swanson  and  Peter  Johnson. 

May  6,  1854,  a  set  of  By-Laws  were  adopted;  all  those  nersons  who, 
in  course  of  time,  signed  them,  numbered  526. 

In  1854  the  Colony  performed  much  labor  at  Galva  in  building  opera- 
tions; much  work  was  also  done  for  the  C.,  B.  &  Q.  R.  R.,  then  under 
construction. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  January  22,  1855,  it  was  reported  that  the 
Colony  owned  the  following:  8,028  acres  of  land;  50  town  lots  in  Gal- 
va, valued  at  $10,000;  ten  shares  of  stock  in  the  Central  Military  Tract 
R.  R.,  valued  at  $1,000.00;  586  head  of  cattle, "109  horses  and  mules,  1,000 
hogs,  and  other  assets  such  as  wheat,  flax,  broom  corn,  provisions  and 
general  merchandise. 

In  1858  the  Colony  numbered  655  males  and  females,  of  whom  147  were 
males  over  20  years;  258  females  over  20  years;  78  males  and  females  be- 
tween 15  and  20  years;  and  172  males  and  females  under  15  years  of  age. 
On  January  10,  1859,  Peter  Johnson  (who  was  a  brother  of  Eric  Jan- 


42 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


son)  resigned  from  the  office  of  trustee.  In  his  stead  Olof  Stoneberg  was 
elected. 

In  December,  1859,  a  Colonist  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Sweden:  "We 
have,  in  general,  had  a  healthy  season;  no  deaths  since  August  last  year." 

In  1860  the  Colony  built  the  last  brick  building — the  school  house. 
Interested  in  education,  Eric  Janson  had  early  secured  instructors  in 
English  for  the  benefit  of  the  Colonists.  The  school  was  maintained  each, 
year.  It  was  suitable,  therefore,  to  end  with  the  building  of  a  school 
house — a  contribution  to  enlightenment,  as  Jansonism  had  been  to  relig- 
ious freedom. 

On  February  14,  1860,  the  Colony  was  divided  into  two  parties — the 
Jonas  Olson  party  with  265  shares,  and  the  Olof  Johnson  perty  with  150 
shares;  the  Johnson  party  divided  up  its  holdings  the  following  year 
among  its  members,  while  the  Olson  party  underwent  further  subdivisions 
before  its  property  was  individualized. 

The  shortness  of  time  and  other  reasons  prevent  a  full  historical 
sketch  on  this  occasion.  Various  matters  have  been  omitted. 

A  few  words  in  retrospect: 

What  did  Jansonism  and  the  Bishop  Hill  Colony  accomplish?  The 
former  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  means  which  helped  to  give  Sweden 
religious  freedom;  it  also  helped  to  break  the  ice  for  a  great  emigration, 
of  the  people  of  the  North  to  the  United  States. 

The  Bishop  Hill  Colony  was  built  when  Chicago  was  a  town,  and 
Peoria  on  the  east  and  Rock  Island  on  the  west;  were  small  places.  The 
influx  of  Swedish  property,  together  with  Swedish  energy  and  will,  made 
the  Colony  a  significant  factor  in  the  progress  of  Northern  Illinois. 

But  we  cannot  point  out  all  that  Jansonism  and  the  Bishop  Hill  Col- 
ony have  done — eternity  alone  will  make  it 


ERIC  BERGLAND,  Baltimore,  Md. 

First  Lieut.  Co.  D,  57th  Reg.  III. 
Vol.  Inf.  Graduated  at  the  head 
of  his  class  at  the  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point  in  1869. 
Was  instructor  at  the  Academy 
during  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Hayes.  Now  z  Major  re- 
tired U.  S.  A. 


REV.  ANDREW   BERGLUND. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL.  43 

Historical    Facts   of  the   Bishop   Hill   Colony. 

Martin  Johnson,  J.  Helsen  and  myself  were  assigned  to  this  work. 
This  we  find  a  difficult  work  as  there  does  not  appear  that  any  record 
was  kept  in  the  early  days  of  the  Colony.  No  record  seems  to  have  been 
written  till  the  years  1853-54,  when  the  Charter  and  By-Laws  were  granted 
by  the  Legislature. 

We  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  who  was  the  author,  but  Mr.  N. 
Heden  presided  as  Chairman  and  E.  U.  Norberg  as  Secretary. 

Those  that  have  attempted  to  write  a  history  of  the  Colony  have  had 
to  rely  on  this  and  the  memories  of  the  oldest  living  settlers. 

Schooling  in  those  days  was  very  rare,  only  a  few  had  this  opportunity. 

We  find  Kelt  &  Company  wrote  a  history  of  Henry  County  about  2JJ 
years  after  the  first  settlers  of  Bishop  Hill.  They  give  a  short  history  of 
the  Colony. 

We  find  that  in  the  year  1880  Captain  Erie  Johnson  published  a  book 
called  "Svenskarna  of  Illinois."  It  gives  a  chapter  as  a  history  of  the  Bishop 
Hill  Colony,  a  reliable  account  of  the  origin  in  Sweden,  the  persecution, 
emigration  to  this  country,  the  toils  and  sufferings  of  the  early  days.  In 
1881  he  published  the  "Swedish  Citizen"  in  Moline,  Illinois.  April  16,  same 
year,  he  has  a  list  of  the  births,  as  well  as  the  present  residences  of  the 
Charter  members. 

Capt.  Erik  is  a  son  of  Erik  Johnson,  founder  of  the  colony.  This  his- 
tory is  accurate  and  reliable. 

We  find  Mikel  Mikelson,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  in 
1892,  wrote  a  history  of  the  Colony,  largely  copied  from  Erik  Johnson's. 
He  gives  vent  to  a  bitter  denunciation  of  the  management  of  the  Colony. 

We  find  that  Philip  Stoneberg,  a  student  of  Knox  College,  born  and 
raised  at  the  Colony,  is  writing  a  history  of  the  Colony,  which  we  believe 
is  well  written  in  Swedish  language. 

Erik  Johnson  and  his  followers  in  the  year  1845-56,  opened  an  emi- 
gration to  this  country,  the  United  States  of  America,  to  thousands  of 
Swedes  to  this  land  of  religious  liberty,  where  men  can  worship  the  God 
of  Heaven,  as  their  consciences  dictate  without  any  persecution.  This 
Fiftieth  Anniversary  is  to  us  more  than  an  ordinary  event;  our  mind  goes 
back  to  the  early  days  of  toil  and  suffering,  strangers  then  in  a  strange 
land,  living  in  tents  and  dug-outs.  Improper  food  and  exposure  were 
attended  with  fearful  mortality.  The  scourge  of  Asiatic  cholera  was 
brought  in  by  emigrants  in  the  month  of  July,  1849.  About  150  of  our 
strongest  men  and  women  died  in  a  few  week's.  A  person  at  noon,  heal- 
thy and  strong,  would  lie  a  corpse  at  sunset.  Peace  to  their  dust. 

Though  they  sleep,  'tis  not  forever, 

There  will  be  a  glorious  dawn, 
We  shall  meet  to  part  no  never, 

On  the  resurrection  morn. 

From  the  deepest  caves  of  ocean, 
From  the  desert  and  the  plain, 
From  the  valley  and  the  mountain, 
A  countless  throng  shall  rise  again. 

Though  they  sleep,  'tis  not  forever, 

In  the  lone  and  silent  grave, 

Blessed  be  the  hand  that  taketh, 

Blessed  be  the  hand  that  gave, 

In  the  bright  eternal  city, 

Death  can  never,  never  come, 
In  His  own  good  time  he'll  call  us, 
From  our  rest  to  that  sweet  home. 

The  original  number  that  emigrated  were  about  1100;  the  adult 
Charter  members  were  454,  of  this  number  only  99  are  alive  to-day;  of 
the  seven  Trustees,  two  are  alive.  They  are  Swan  Swansea  and  Jonas 
Olson.  Mr.  Olson  is  now  in  his  94th  year  and  will  take  part  in  this  re- 
union. 


44  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

August  2,  1846  the  first  piece  of  land  was  bought  on  section  8,  Weller 
township.  Shortly  after  160  acres  were  bought  for  $1100. 

Together  with  a  log  house  and  some  growing  corn,  this  corn  was  about 
all  we  had  to  live  on  through  the  winter  of  1846-'47. 

The  log  house,  first  building  owned  by  the  Colony,  was  moved  to  sec- 
tion 13,  Weller  township,  and  occupied  by  John  Bjork,  now  deceased. 

We  leave  the  subject  here  now  to  our  descendants.  Whence  came  you 
.and  whither  are  you  going?  N.  RUNQUIST. 


MRS.   CHARLOTTE    L.    ROOT. 

Who  was  a  first  cousin  of  Eric  Janson,  was  born  in  Osterunda,  Swe- 
den, May  22,  1824,  and  came  to  Bishop  Hill  in  1846..  Died  zt  Galva,  Illi- 
nois, February  22,  1905. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


45- 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 

President  John  Root  made  a  model  presiding  officer. 

Below  we  give  brief  sketches  of  the  lives  of  the  Colonists  whose  por- 
traits appear  elsewhere  in  this  paper. 

Rev.  Jonas  Olson  was  born  in  Sweden,  December  18,  1802.  He  came 
to  the  Colony  in  1846.  He  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  In  the- 
Colony  affairs  and  succeeded  the  Prophet,  Eric  Janson,  on  the  latter's 
death.  He  is  now  very  feeble  but  was  present  during  the  reunion. 

Andrew  O.  Bergland  was  born  in  Sweden  January  10,  1814,  and  died 
in  Bishop  Hill,  August  17,  1896.  He  left  Sweden  in  October,  1846,  and  W£fcs 
shipwrecked  on  the  North  Sea.  He  was  rescued  and  remained  in  England 
till  January,  1847,  when  he  sailed  for  New  York.  He  arrived  in  New  York 
in  March,  and  in  Bishop  Hill  three  months  later.  He  was  one  of  the 
Colony  preachers.  One  of  his  sons,  Major  Eric  Bergland,  is  now  an  officer 
in  the  U.  S.  Army. 

Jacob  Jacobson,  formerly  of  the  firm  of  Swanson  &  Jacobson,  was 
born  in  Sweden,  March  18,  1817,  and  died  at  Bishop  Hill,  December  15, 
1883.  He  held  a  prominent  place  in  the  business  affairs  of  the  Colony 
and  was  superintendent  of  the  "Ox  Boys,"  with  whom  he  was  very  popu- 
lar, for  a  number  of  years.  He  arrived  in  Bishop  Hill  in  February,  1847, 
having  traveled  the  distance  from  Toledo,  Ohio,  on  foot. 

Swan  Swanson  was  born  in  Sweden,  May  28,  1825.  He  came  to  Bishop 
Hill  in  November,  1846.  He  was  prominent  nf  the  later  Colony  affairs  and 
served  a  number  of  years  as  post  master  of  tBe  village,  and  as  township 
treasurer.  He  was  engaged  in  a  general  merchandising  business,  in  part- 
nership with  Jacob  Jacobson.  from  1861  to  18T3. 

Martin  Johnson,  who  succeeded  Rev.  Jonas  Olson  as  preacher  in  the 
Colony  church,  which  position  he  now  holds,  was  born  in  Sweden,  April 
9,  1831.  He  arrived  in  Bishop  Hill  in  September,  1846.  He  served  as  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  a  number  of  terms,  and  also  as  Supervisor  and  treasur- 
er of  his  township. 

Olof  Johnson  was  born  in  Sweden,  January  30,  1820,  and  died  at  Galva 
July  18,  1870.  He  came  to  the  Colony  in  1846,  and  was  made  business  man- 
ager and  financier  of  the  Colony.  He  returned  to  Sweden  in  1849  and  rais- 
ed $6,000  for  the  colonists.  He  was  a  man  of  great  executive  ability. 


MRS.   MARY    (MALMGREN)    OLSON, 
The  first  child   born  at   Bishop   Hill. 


OLIVER    HEADSTRUM, 
of  Victoria,   Illinois. 


46  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEME-CENTENNIAL. 

Jonas  W.  Olson  was  born  in  Soderala,  Sweden,  June  30,  1843.  He 
was  the  son  of  Rev.  Olof  Olson,  the  founder  of  the  Colony.  Mr.  Olson  is 
the  present  post  master  of  Galva.  He  served  a  term  in  the  Illinois  legis- 
lature and  was  the  Democratic  nominee  for  Congress  in  the  10th  Illinois 
District  in  1894.  He  is  an  eloquent  speaker  and  an  able  politician. 

Hon.  Eric  Johnson,  son  of  the  Prophet,  Eric  Janson,  was  born  in  Bis- 
kop's  Kulla,  (Bishop  Hill)  Sweden,  fifty-eight  years  ago.  His  early  life 
was  spent  in  the  Colony  here  on  the  farm.  He  has  been  quite  prominent 
as  a  journalist  and  publisher,  served  for  a  time  as  captain  during  our  Civil 
War,  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Nebraska.  His  pres- 
ent home  is  League  City,  Texas. 


Notes  of  the  Reunion. 

Rev.  Jonas  Olson  Is  now  the  oldest  living  representative  of  the  Colo- 
nists. He  will  be  94  years  old  next  December,  but  was  able  tc  attend  the 
exercises  in  the  Park  last  Wednesday,  in  an  invalid's  chair. 

Peter  Wickblom  and  N.  G.  Hollander  were  the  next  oldest  people  in 
attendance.  They  are  both  nearly  87  years  of  age,  but  notwithstanding  his 
age  Mr.  Wickblom  gave  an  interesting  taiK  on  Thursday  afternoon. 

The  whole  park  was  illuminated  with  Chinese  lanterns  on  Wednesday 
night. 

Peter  Johnson  and  Lars  Ericson  are  the  only  ones  now  living  in  Bis- 
hop Hill  who  came  over  with  the  very  first  of  fhe  Colonists,  having  arrived 
here  in  July,  1846. 

The  old  Colony  bell  which  was  used  in  the  exercises  last  week,  and 
now  in  use  as  a  school  bell,  is  very  nearly  as  old  as  Bishop  Hill,  having 
been  purchased  either  in  1847  or  '48. 

The  excellent  photographs  for  the  portraits  and  views  in  this  edition 
were  made  by  E.  J.  Vannice  of  Bishop  Hill. 

Over  two  thousand  people  were  fed  free  by  the  hospitable  Hillites  on 
Wednesday  and  Thursday  and  there  was  "any  quantity"  of  provisions  left. 

In  the  "Steeple  Building"  two  rooms  were  devoted  to  relics.  Quaint 
old  plows,  spinning  wheels,  coffee  mills,  lanterns,  grain  cradles,  etc.,  were 
there,  each  labeled  with  the  name  of  the  owner  or  donor.  A  quaint  old 
gun  was  on  exhibition,  the  barrel  of  which  had  been  used  by  a  soldier  in 
the  army  of  Charles  the  XII,  now  in  possession  of  Eric  Anderson.  A  wed- 
ding coat  of  N.  G.  Hollander,  made  in  Sweden  in  1835.  A  beautiful  hand 
made  linen  table  cloth,  with  raised  figures,  by  Mrs.  Christine  Olson. 

Mrs.  N.  Runquist  of  Galva,  who  was  present  at  the  reunion,  was  twen- 
ty weeks  on  the  ocean  and  lay  seven  weeks  on  the  dock  at  Liverpool  wait- 
ing for  the  ship  to  be  repaired. 

The  Swedish  flag  used  in  the  decorations  about  the  grand  stand  in 
the  park  was  made  for  the  occasion  by  the  ladies  of  Bishop  Hill.  They 
were  unable  to  procure  one  in  Chicago. 

Olof  Krans  is  entitled  to  much  credit  for  the  faithful  reproduction  of 
old  Colony  scenes  in  a  series  of  large  paintings.  The  first  dugouts  were 
reproduced,  principally  from  memory  and  measurements,  in  one  painting. 
Then  there  were  field  scenes  of  planting,  harvesting,  pile  driving,  etc.  It 
was  a  very  interesting  collection  and  deserves,  and  will  no  doubt  have,  a 
place  with  a  permanent  collection  of  relics,  records  and  souvenirs. 

Thursday's  meeting  was  given  up  to  reminiscences  and  short  talks. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  the  ringing  of  the  Colony  bell  at  10:3Q 
o'clock.  A  number  of  letters  were  read  which  had  been  received  from 
former  residents  of  Bishop  Hill,  and  who  are  now  located  in  all  parts  of 
the  United  States,  expressing  regret  at  being  unable  for  vailous  reasons 
to  attend  this  reunion.  There  were  letters  from  California  and  Oregon, 
Massachusetts  and  New  York,  as  well  as  points  nearer  home.  Rev.  A.  T. 
Westergreen,  of  Geneva,  Illinois,  gave  a  very  pleasing  address,  followed 
by  John  Helsen,  after  which  free  dinner  was  announced  for  everybody  at 
the  Auditorium,  the  older  ones  being  given  first  place.  After  dinner  short 
addresses  or  talks  were  given  by  Eric  Bengston,  Peter  Wickblom,  Dr.  J.  F. 
Vannice,  Martin  Johnson,  and  J.  W.  Olson.  The  program  was  plentifully 
interspersed  with  music  by  the  chorus  and  male  quartette. 

After  the  meeting  was  over  all  the  old  members  of  the  Colony  present 
•were  photographed  in  a  group  by  E.  J.  Vannice  and  a  very  good  picture 
secured. 


BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


47 


There  were  present  from  a  distance:  Walter  Bjorklund.  Davenport, 
Iowa;  Nelson  N.  Florine,  Britt,  Iowa;  John  W.  Strom,  Moline,  111.;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Frenell,  Alpha,  111.;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Andrew  Hawkinson,  Moline,  111.; 
Mr.  Christine  Bandholtz,  Osco;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gustof  Chilst.rom,  Orion; 
Mrs.  Kate  Hultman,  Davenport,  Iowa;  J.  A.  Nye,  Chicago,  111.;  Mrs.  D. 
Chilstrom,  Orion,  111.;  E.  B.  Severin,  Moline,  111.;  Mrs.  Catherine  Nelson, 
Peoria,  111.;  Nellie  C.  Nelson,  Peoria;  Mrs.  Kate  Harman,  Central  City, 
Neb.;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  I.  V.  Hoar,  Rock  Island,  111.;  Capt.  Eric  Johnson, 
League  City,  Texas;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jacob  Wickstrom,  Galesburg,  111.;  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  S.  G.  Anderson,  Davenport,  Iowa;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  W.  Berggren, 
Galesburg,  111.;  Mrs.  F.  A.  Olson,  Galesburg,  III.;  S.  J.  Swanson,  Galesburg, 
111.;  J.  E.  Norling,  Chicago,  111.;  Nels  Soder,  Madrid,  Iowa;  Mrs  Anna  Pet- 
erson, Genoa,  111.;  Andrew  Chaiser,  Chicago,  111.;  A.  P.  Hanson,  Rockford, 
111.;  Rev.  A.  E.  Wenstrand,  Chicago,  111.;  Chas.  F.  Holmes,  Galesburg,  111.; 
P.  E.  Wistrand,  Ottawa,  111.;  Nels  F.  Sanborn,  Lakeport,  N.  H.;  Carl  EK- 
lund,  Evanston,  111.;  Mrs.  E.  L.  Rhoadarmer,  Milan,  111.;  Berlha  Johnson, 
Princeton,  111.;  Lena  Bjorklund,  Davenport,  Iowa;  Rev.  A.  G.  Westergreen, 
Geneva,  111.;  Otto  Brinberg,  Moline,  111.;  Mrs.  Matilda  Warner  Rutherford, 
Hepburn,  Iowa;  Mrs.  Lottie  (Westburg)  Holden,  Bellevue,  Mich.;  S.  N. 
Holden,  Bellevue,  Mich. 

Letters  of  regret  received  from  Eric  Croft,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.;  John  A. 
Nelson,  Wa  Keeney,  Kans.;  Eric  and  David  Aline,  Eugene,  Ore.;  Rev.  V. 
Witting,  Worcester,  Mass.;  Mrs.  S.  Alexander,  Monroe,  Neb.;  Andrew 
Nordberg,  Cedarville,  Kans.;  Rev.  H.  W.  Eklund,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.;  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  D.  Danielson,  Wayne,  Kans.;  Erik  and  Martha  Soder,  Madrid, 
Iowa;  Oscar  Peal,  Moline,  111.;  E.  C.  Johnson,  Chicago,  111.;  Olof  Norlin, 
Minden,  Neb.;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  J.  Anderson,  Stratford,  Iowa;  Andrew  Nor- 
dean,  Loyalton,  Cal.;  Olof  Jones,  Stratford,  Iowa. 


A.   G.   WARNER. 

Orderly  Sergt.  Co.  D,  57th  Reg.  III. 
Vol.  Inft.  Later  commissioned  Cap- 
tain of  a  company  in  a  colored 
regiment. 


P.   M.  WICKSTRUM, 
Capt.  Co.  D,  57th  Reg.  III.  Vol.  Inft. 


48  BISHOP    HILL    COLONY    SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 

Editorial    by    Mr.    E.    E.    Fitch    in    the    Galva    News,    October    1,    1896. 

The  Swedes  took  Bishop  Hill  last  week  for  sure,  but  the  credit  of  cap- 
turing the  quaint  old  town  on  its  fiftieth  anniversary  doesn't  belong  to 
them  alone  by  any  means.  Hundreds  of  the  old  neighbors  of  the  colonists 
who  knew  something  of  their  liberty-loving  spirit  that  impelled  them  to 
turn  their  faces  away  from  the  Fatherland,  with  all  its  endearing  ties  of 
kinship;  with  its  tender  memories  of  mountain  and  sunny  upland  and  dell; 
with  its  hallowed  recollections  of  the  happy  hours  of  life's  rosy  morning; 
these  old  neighbors,  who  knew  also  something  of  the  sublime  faith  and 
heroic  endurance  which  buoyed  up  these  colonists  in  their  new  home 
through  trials  and  sufferings  almost  too  great  for  mortals  to  bear,  were 
there  and  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  festivities  with  as  much  enjoy- 
ment as  the  colonists  themselves. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  in  this  article  to  give  any  account  of  the  won- 
derful religious  movement  in  Sweden  which  resulted  finally  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Colony  here.  Nor  shall  we  speak  of  the  early  days  of  the 
colony  life.  This  ground  is  covered  fully  by  the  speeches  and  historical  pa- 
pers published  in  this  issue. 

But  we  want  to  say  a  word  in  regard  to  the  Bishop  Hill  of  today.  The 
village,  by  the  government  census  of  1890,  numbers  330  souls.  It  is  situated 
on  what  was  originally  a  wooded  eminence  overlooking  a  small  stream,  the 
headwaters  of  Edwards  River.  The  location  is  a  beautiful  one  and  the 
village  is  one  of  the  neatest  and  best  kept  in  this  part  of  the  state.  The 
yards,  gardens  and  well  tilled  fields  present  a  picture  "fair  as  a  garden  of 
the  Lord."  The  inhabitants  are  among  the  most  intelligent  and  thrifty  and 
are  abreast  of  the  times  in  all  that  pertains  to  a  model  village  life.  The 
buildings,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  views  here  presented,  are  mostly  the 
old  colony  buildings,  but  aside  from  this,  scarcely  a  vestige  of  the  old  col- 
ony life  remains.  The  lands  are  held  in  severalty  and  the  government  is 
that  of  the  incorporated  village.  In  its  palmiest  days  Bishop  Hill  contained 
about  1100  souls.  Everything  was  made  in  the  community  that  was  neces- 
ary  for  the  community  life,  and  the  surplus  found  a  ready  market  at  good 
prices  because  of  its  general  excellence. 

Mr.  Root  well  says,  in  his  reponse  to  the  address  of  welcome,  that  "In 
its  most  prosperous  days  had  this  town  been  enclosed  by  the  Chinese  Wall, 
the  inhabitants  would  almost  have  had  within  the  confines  of  their  own 
possessions,  abundant  resources  to  supply  their  every  want,  vithout  being 
dependent  upon  the  outside  world.  They  raised  and  manufactured  into 
cloth  their  own  wool  and  flax,  made  their  own  implements  of  every  descrip- 
tion, raised  wheat  and  rye  and  ground  the  same  into  flour,  manufactured 
leather  and  converted  it  into  boots  and  shoes,  burnt  their  own  lime,  raised 
horses,  cattle,  hogs  and  poultry,  and  their  ten-horse-power  sorghum  mill 
was  the  largest  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  and  very  few  of  the  nec- 
essaries of  life  were  obtained  elsewhere.  Their  industrial  growth  from  the 
beginning  was  almost  phenomenal." 

The  Bishop  Hill  Colony  has  passed  away.  Whether  we  agree  or  disa- 
gree with  the  religious  tenets  of  the  colonists;  whether  we  agree  or  disa- 
gree with  the  idea  of  Colony  life,  the  heart  of  every  lover  of  liberty  beats 
in  sympathy  with  every  honest  effort,  misdirected  though  it  may  be,  to  se- 
cure a  larger  measure  of  liberty  for  any  portion  of  the  race. 

The  Bishop  Hill  Colony  has  passed  away,  but  those  hardy  pioneers  have 
left  in  their  descendants,  a  heritage  to  free  government,  of  as  intelligent, 
brave  and  loyal  a  class  of  citizens  as  can  be  found  within  our  borders. 


We  are  indebted  to  the  Swedish  M.  E.  Book  Concern  of  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois, for  the  "Winter  Scene,"  and  to  the  Engberg-Holmberg  Publishing 
Company,  also  of  Chicago,  for  the  following  cuts:  Prize  Flag,  Peter  John- 
son, Old  Settlers'  Group  1906,  Eric  Forsse,  P.  M.  Wickstrum,  Eric  Berg- 
lund,  Jonas  Ericson,  Jonas  Kronberg,  Olof  Stoneberg,  Eric  L'.  Norberg, 
and  A.  G.  Warner. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

977.338R67S  C001 

SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  OF  THE  SETTL 


30112025390391 


